SW Ohio | Little papa - 1/17/2026 12:45
So what’s really bidding our prices down? I remember the day when 80 bu/ acre corn was a bumper corn crop. Now if we have 150 bu/ acre it’s almost like a disaster. Or is the fencerow to fencerow we were told to do back in the 70s. Or get big,or get out. When I went to auto shutoff on my planter, the first year I had 20 bu extra seed corn to give back to the seed company. We farm terraces, So technology made us better farmers. In my neck of the woods-no till has also made increase of yields. The conservation of moisture in the soil has saved us some crops.—— This will work as long as we can keep weeds under control with chemicals. I still remember the go-dig and row cultivator and the hours sitting on H tractor making sure not to get cultivator blight. Think about it- what would happen if we had to go back to those days? Would the generation under me even be interested in farming? Time will tell.
As a beginning farmer i wouldn't mind going back to the old ways if i meant i could have an opportunity to actually farm for a living. Hell one of our main chore/hay tractors is a 1954 Ford NAA, it still gets over 200 hours a year put on it. How many 50-60 year old guys would willingly run a tractor year-round, including single digits in the winter, without a cab or even power steering?
One thing that makes me laugh is the fallacy that agriculture wants/needs "young" farmers, when from my point of view the previous generations shut the door behind them and threw away the key. This fall we had 130 acres sell in a couple parcels directly next door to us we were interested in, as a family we decided our limit was $12k for the 30 acres that touched our line. At the end of the day a non-farming neighbor bought the entire 130 for $15k. He did approach us about renting it, and said he wanted to give me an "opportunity" as he knew i'm trying to get started. 5 year APH was 200 corn, 60 beans. After a few meetings and negotiations we realized it wasn't going to work as he already had several offers over $300/acre, and i was really sticking my neck out at $275. |
What do you really want out of ag?
