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SC | In an effort to keep the story short....HA!!!
I started farming for myself 2 yrs ago but have been trying for 5+ yrs. This year I was able to grow to over 120 acres, 123 to be precise, with CRP fields and basically leftovers that no one else wanted...which I am perfectly happy with because I know what to do with them. I am a fairly young fella with a young family drawing income from multiple sectors of farming with very limited resources and holding down a job on top of that...which is not going well at the moment. To become a full-time farmer is a dream I am working towards.
Today I lost 28 acres, last week I lost 47. On the 28 a guy outbid me by $67 per acre....if I would have paid this rate this year, I would have lost money even with insurance. He can have it for that. Pretty shady deal how this guy got involved to boot. The 47 I was getting set up to buy it, agreed on a price with owner while in the middle of harvest, asked for a couple of weeks to get it all together and meanwhile he takes an offer for more money, $500 an acre more. Can I fault him, I guess not because I didn't get it on paper fast enough. Guess I may be a little miffed too because this new owner never contacted me about it and was going around asking some of the tiny land-locked neighbors I rented from before it was even a done deal. Am I wrong to think there should be some common courtesy there even if he doesn't intend to use me? The guy he does use pays 250-300 for nearly everything he has and the guy doesn't own anything that would make 50 bu beans or 175 bu corn. If that is what he is going to pay for that farm then I wish him luck, another deal where I would lose money even with insurance.
I am well aware of the nature of this business. I am well aware of the numbers and I approach it in a very business-like manner. I am not looking for hand-outs nor preferential treatment. I work off my harvest equipment usage and i basically have no family farm to rely on for a future. My point of frusteration is how can a young guy get started and make any headway when idiots are paying what they are paying......$220-300/acre for the scraps. If I hear one more person say to just wait for these guys to go under, I will scream....or wait for the bubble to burst, thats another good one. Most guys on the downhill of their careers feel they want to go another 5-15 yrs depending on who I've talked to whether they knew my intentions of asking or not...... Feel like throwing in the towel lately because I work my ass off only to have things go down the drain. Just frusterated as hell right now.
Thanks for listening
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Frusterated sums it up
