in reality hard times could easily come to local areas as insurance guarantees head lower... we could easily see areas that are losing $200/ac based on a failed crop and other areas 50 miles away make $200/ac based on record yield...

I would bet that poor marketing may account to profit losses more than mismanagement in the next few years... while we need to keep costs down... cutting on fertility or populations... weed control... is a long term mismanagement just as much as fancy new equipment...