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Iowa | I grew up (part way) during the 70's. It sort of gave me a childish sense of having Christmas anytime I wanted it. It seemed there was always something new on the farm. I had this strange sort of experience of working long and hard on the farm while doing without the some of the things that most kids took for granted, and at the same time being spoiled rotten in the sense of knowing things were easily within my graspe. It was and still can be easy to start to feel a little superior when hard work is rewarded with abundance. When I look at some farm kids today, I see a bit of myself from the 70's. My dad seemed to be somewhat of a stick in the mud through it all. He lived through times when hard work was not so well rewarded.
Equipment and land in the 70s continued to get more expensive, and people bought more and more of it. Dad had the impression they must have been much better managers than he was because lots of people were doing things that we would not have been able to cash flow or pencil out on the merrits. As it turns out, they really were not more efficient than we were. It turns out some of then were doing it on borrrowed money, using the land with inflated values as collateral. We got another new tractor in the late 70's. I was really excited to come home from school and see it. Dad only grumbled something about how it cost $27000.00. He bought a new tractor one size smaller five years earlier for $12000.00. Five years seems like a blink of the eye to me now, as it probably did to Dad back then. Dad used to say he hoped all the machinery dealers and manufacturing companies realized for their own sake there was enough new equipment in the country to farm the land for several years without them selling much more. There came a time when people did stop buying new machinery. There were lots of farm and dealer auctions. John Deere had some large layoffs. Nearly new equipment became available at bargin prices.
I remember as a teenager looking at a magazine cover with a scene of a farmer in a field with his tractor and plow. The headline was something to the effect of, "Can you make three thousand dollar land pay?" I was brought to tears because I knew I could not make it pay. The abundance that seemed to come so easily to me on the farm was good, but not nearly enough for me to see a realistic way to buy land and farm like my dad did.
Lots of farms went out of business during the years that followed. It was not always the ones one would expect based on appearances. Dad was often shocked that a farm went under when it looked like they always kept things so neat and clean and seemed to be doing a good job. It made an impression on me that still holds to this day. Looking good is not the same as being good. That goes for farms, equipment, and people. I placed little emphasis on looking good, but time has shown it does help open doors in the real world. A lot of people still seem to think looking good and being good are one in the same.
As farms struggled to stay in business, livestock was one of the first things to be sacrificed. Livestock had not made a lot of money during the previous years of 3 dollar corn, and was not doing well with the new normal of 2 dollar corn with all the herd liquidation going on. Interest rates were high, and geting out of livestock freed up some capital to pay down debt for a lot of farms. It was about that time I got my start into farming. Dad was retiring and in poor health. I could not buy much land, but I could buy some cheap machinery and hogs without taking on much debt. Given the fresh start without baggage from years past, I saw that I could make a living and turn a small profit with 2 dollar corn and 40 dollar hogs. Within a short time, hogs went up to 60 dollars. The money seemed to come easy for a while, long enough for me to get established. Hogs have been a wild ride since then, with the downs being every bit as spetacular as the ups. Lots of operations with far more brains and resources than I'd ever dream of having have gone belly up in this business over the years. Sometimes they simply continued operations with new owners.
Not much of the cheap land (1000 dollar) actually came on the market after the 80's crash. A lot of contracts and loans were written down. Some remained vonerable and struggled to make the payments only to have to sell the land years later when some other hardship came along. There was a period of time when the tables were turned between the haves and the have nots. Sometimes friends or family asked each other to loan some money when things were not going so well at the bank. In general, those that did not go deep into debt during the 70s could cash flow just fine during the 80s. High interest rates were not a problem and a good return on their money.
Those that were hurting during the 80s tended to be very much in fovor of farm programs and wanted lower interest rates. Some that were not deep in debt were against farm programs and did not mind the high interest rates. On a personal level, I think the some of the same holds true today. Any indication I see today tells me those with significant debt likely don't want to see high interest rates or an end to crop insurance programs.
The whole nature of how farming was viewed changed. It was the cool thing in the 70s. (At that time, even a lot of the urban population was not yet that far removed from the farm, just listen to the agricultural references of a lot of popular music from back then.) I came of age during the 80s and experienced something entirely different. It was not exactly, "Welcome home Sonny, marry my daughter." It was somewhat of a social crisis in the sense that a single, young farmer without the right connections could go for years without any real opportunities to meet a single woman that would give him a second look. Every one encountered always seemed like she must have been the last one on the planet, leaving a guy to wonder how old he would be when he would have another chance. There wern't many jobs to keep unattached young women in the area, and most did not want anything to do with a farmer. That's sort of a whole other thread.
Sorry for the long post. Just remembering the 80's. Seeing the pain suffered by good people going through hard times made an impression. I don't think the 80's were near anything nearly as difficult as the 30's, but am worried where this country is headed could be that bad and worse. I don't believe the general population we have today is the same sort of people we had back then. People today seem far less resourceful, self reliant, and far more open to another form of government.
Edited by tigger 11/13/2012 12:43
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Asking about tough farm economy times
