|
WC MN | Yes, yes, it is.
My neighbors actually joke about what my brother and I do but it sure makes things look nice/convenient. I have a field at home I tiled and pushed the ditch shut. I had my permits and the project was blessed by the power that be if anyone is interested. Quite a few neighbors stopped to check up on me too. So don't worry, I got plenty of attention. Picked up net 7 right there. Bill was $30k for the tile and cleanup. Field has a 191 aph before "improvements". You can't touch ground like that for the equivalent $4,200/acre I spent. Plus the fact that I can farm it as a square 30 acres and not 4 separate pieces alone is worth it. No trees, no ditch, no wet spots, etc. Flat.... black... and full of tile.... My wife comments monthly on "how nice it looks" now. That right there is a good woman. After a couple of dates she said her dad was a corn farmer and seed dealer so I knew I had to marry her! Boy, did I get lucky!
You'd be surprised in our county how much land lay idle. Some good, some bad. We had almost as much corn planted in the fifties than we do today. In 1966 80% of our land in the county was tillable. In 2010, 46%. That's a HUGE decrease. It amounts to roughly 140,000 acre DECREASE in farmed land. Think about number for a minute....... About 50,000 acres or 12% of that is in CRP. Some should stay, some shouldn't have been put in to begin with. My step grandfather put in some of his heaviest ground in CRP because that's what made the best payment. What?........ It came out this year. Normania clay loam that lays real nice. That's some good stuff. Family doesn't own it, neighbor does now. Gave $800/acre for it 10 years ago. He's going to look pretty smart come next year when he net's that an acre from the corn. Dryland is around 185-190 bushel corn for Normania if it's drained well. He's a real nice guy so I'm glad he's got it.
CRP, recreational, wildlife easements, housing developments and overgrowth/forestation. In the 80's when farmers where hard up for cash there was a large push for the government to enroll acres in some sort of program. Here's the problem with that. MOST acres that got enrolled where outside investors who bought the farmland, enrolled it into programs and resold it as hunting land for a profit. Most of the paperwork wasn't even done in the county! Talk about a scam. These easements happen because the government was getting a bad rap for owning land, so the next best thing is to pay someone the right to use it forever. You would not believe the hassle these things create for the neighbors. The DNR in our county is the single largest land holder, then it's the state of MN, then the Feds, then a private investor, then followed by two BTO's and so on. Aren't plat books handy?
ALOT of CRP came out this year. I just got done custom plowing down 150 acres and am in the process of helping the landowner install a pivot (relative). Before I get scoffed at for breaking it out, it's nothing to raise 170+ aph corn under pivot here. Wells and water are CHEAP with $7 corn. Most guys east of me were in the 230's this year. That's not typical but it happened. 210 is more "average" if you have good water. Payback on irrigation setup is around 2-3 corn seasons if prices stay at $7. Sand ground sells for about $2500/acre here. 3 years ago it was $1200/acre (actually had the opportunity to buy a quarter but ultimately chickened out). When I was a kid, they gave it away. The water was good out that way just no one wanted to deal with the irrigation 20 years ago. Now it's a totally different story.
My farm borders another. That farm consists of 140 acres. Approximately 120 of it was tillable in the 1950s (20 acre building site, orchard, and vineyard established back in the late 1800's). It was ditched, tiled and maintained. The DNR thought it would be wise to raise the lake level 2 full feet in the early 80's to improve the aquatic life. They did this by building a dam on the outlet side. It wasn't up for a vote or review, they just did because they know best. That farm now is 89 tillable because of soil saturation and subsequent tree overgrowth, willows, dogwoods and poplar. It's amazing what happens when you raise a 10,000 acre lake 2 feet. Looking at the aerial photos of the 50's is spooky seeing all that land cleared and tilled.
I know of two housing developments that have failed and brought back into production. One is just down the road from me. They farm around the paved roads. Kind of a sad/funny ordeal but it happened. Rumor has it the bare land sold for 10k in 2005 and was bought back for 6k in 2010 with the "improvements". Of course when the neighbor's caught wind of this, the land values are instantly what the neighbor got. Below is a link to said property. I farm a field close to it and the corn yield is 166 aph so it's not like it's tough ground.
http://binged.it/117Z5gv
This parcel below used to be CRP next to the golf course. A local guy now farms it as corn/bean. Right up to the golf course!
http://binged.it/118vXFV
My neighbor across the road owns an 80. He plants 20 acres into food plots just for hunting. That whole thing used to be farmed when I was a kid.
I know whole sections that were seeded down to pines in the 80's. Most are 8-10" thick now. Mike Stammer just bought up a quarter and CLEAR cut the whole dang thing and threw up a pivot. They had the whole process done in less than 4 weeks. WOW. Looks to be continuous corn (2nd year). Crops look decent on there. I bet he got it for a song. No way in heck would I clear cut a quarter section of pines. He's got the manpower, the equipment, and the capital outlay to get it done. I don't believe in the one man farms all mentality but it's hard to argue the business side of it.
So point being made again is there's land out there, it's just not being used for cropping for whatever reason. When the prices are right, someone will be enticed to bring it back into production. All you guys wondered where the acres are coming from,.... That's "here" anyways.
Edited by rHiNoBaLlS 11/27/2012 21:38
| |
|
Is our corn acreage crowning...
