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Southeast SD | I usually don't post much on these type of topics but will throw my 2 cents in. I am 31 and am a mechanical engineer by day.... by nights and weekends my dad (he has a full time business off the farm too) and I farm 400 acres of rented ground from my grandma. We also have gotten into excavating on the side and now have 2 excavators, skid loader, payloader, backhoe, dump truck and end dump trailer. This year we picked up 300 acres of custom combining in addition to all of that. I would absolutely love to be able to rent 1000 acres around me but I have 3 separate farmers within 15 miles of me that all farm an average of 25,000 acres each. It's pretty tough for someone small like me to be able to compete with what they can pay for rent or purchase. I didn't get any of the stuff I've got by getting a handout, I went to college got my degree and a great paying job that supports my wife and kids and living and then the extra money generated by the small farming and excavating we do is putting me closer and closer to being able to farm and do excavating full time. It's not something that will happen overnight, I just keep trying to grow. This year over last we've tripled the amount of excavating revenue so far and aren't even done with the year yet. I try to do the best job possible with the farming I do have and the excavating I do for the people around me. A lot of that work we do is for farmers doing building site cleanup, tearing out old trees, cleaning out and digging livestock dugouts, putting in waterlines across pastures, etc. I don't feel "entitled" to be given a handout by guys who have worked their whole lives to put their farming operation together. What I hope for is that maybe later on when one or two of those farmers that I've done work for might remember the work I did for them when they start thinking of slowing down and maybe give me a call before some of the other guys and give me a shot at it. I don't expect it to be free or cheap but sometimes getting the call first is as good as you can hope for. Like I said earlier I usually just sit back and watch these type of posts but I get tired of hearing about how the younger "beginning farmers don't have a chance" and they all seem to think they are "entitled" to a handout. Don't get me wrong it's not just beginning farmers either, I see it every day in my line of work with manufacturing people. Young guys that come in just want a pay check for doing nothing. It gets old for us that work hard to make something for themselves. I suggest keep working hard and looking for any angle or niche that can put you ahead of someone else.
Just my 2 cents... take it for what you paid for it. | |
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Beginng Farmer
