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Strathcona, mn | Here is my $.02 from a guy that moved 400 miles from home to farm. I think a lot of what has been stated applies to a lot of the "fringe" areas. The old saying "grass is greener on the other side of the fence" applies. When I moved 8 years ago I had to relearn what I thought I already knew. The basics still apply but the application is different. I am also in an area where a lot of "outsiders" have come and failed. In the fringe, good years can be really, really good but bad years can truely be disasters. If a person can get lucky and not have a disaster in the first year or two and has the mentality that "good" years don't happen every year it probably is feasible to make a living.
Now comes the tricky part, economics of farming 30bpa wheat. I'm assuming west river cash price is similar to here right now and puts spring wheat at $4.60 and winter wheat at or south of $4. Take $4.60x30 and it doesn't pencil out well. That is only $138/acre. Most guys from the corn belt have more than that in annual equipment costs. That's the reason the "fringe" areas have very large farms. We need to spread Eq. Costs out over vast acres to get the per acre amount low enough to pencil out. Now try running a whole enterprise budget on that number. When wheat was $6-8 cash and a decent yield year of 45-50bpa and you find what a "good" year is. That is still only $270-$400/acre gross. Again most guys from the corn belt can't get their head around farming for those numbers and projecting a profit. I'd think crop insurance out there would insure wheat at 25-28bpa t-yield. A 75% policy would only get you about $98/acre coverage. A disaster year and you don't get close to getting your money back. Hit one or two of those in a row and it'd be darn hard to pull out of it. Get lucky and hit a good year or two and make $100/acre over 25000 acres and the "insurance fund" may keep you alive on a bad year. The locals that are left farmng out there either are exceptionally smart, lucky, or both... Probably both. | |
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So tell me about South Dakota.....
