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Central Minnesota | My dad turned 77 this year, farmed his whole life. And in 2014, he said he never remembers fighting it like we had to. He could never remember a year anything like what 2014 was. Sure, there were wet years, and times we wouldn't get beans planted til mid to late june. And could remember years of replanting beans around july 4th. But here there wasn't a chance of that.
Some of the pics you posted of the water around here on that day and a half when we had 11 inches were of ground we either own or rent. And it was bad last year. I have pictures on my phone of my nephew getting stuck July 29th trying to disk weeds down so we could get oats spread as a cover crop. So when people spout off and say it's a mistake, and that you should still be trying to farm that ground, or that you have to much land or whatever that you can't get it done in a timely fashion, really get's under my skin. Especially when they aren't farming in the area, or know what it was like.
Sure, we got some planted, and some there was no chance. And it wasn't for lack of trying. There just wasn't any way possible.
And FYI... The PP last year wasn't a money maker like some seem to think. All the PP really did around here, was pay rent, and covered the cost of working the ground, and putting in a cover crop. It wouldn't have paid for fertilizer, or anything like that, by the time it was all said and done. Remember your PP payment only goes off of the spring revenue guarantee. And in 2014 it wasn't a very high guarantee. So it wasn't as "glamorous" as people like Tara make it sound. And contrary to Tara's beliefs, some of us are farmers, and feel worthless, and like we failed in all aspects because we couldn't get a crop in the ground, no matter how hard you tried.
And just to set you straight on something Tara.... PP didn't pay nearly as good as insurance would have had you put a crop in the ground. If you would have been able to plant corn, and with the terrible yields we had in the area, you came out better on a terrible crop than you did on PP. The corn I did get in the ground, didn't average 100bpa. Even on ground that has a 187aph. And at 85% level, you do the math. So PP sure wasn't playing the "insurance game" as you so call it.
So Buck, even though you and I don't see eye to eye on seed at all times, we can both obviously agree, when the calendar hit 2015, we were both happy! 2014 is a year i'll never forget, even though it's one I never want to go thru again. | |
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3 billion in cuts to crop insurance
