SW KS, near Dodge City | gthompson97 - 11/20/2015 11:33
Farming is a very risky business, less so with crop insurance, but that only goes so far. I always ask people if they would be willing to risk their entire life savings to be able to farm, with a chance that they could lose it all in a year. That usually shuts them up pretty quickly. With great risk, comes great reward.
Ask those people, that if they had the chance and wanted to farm a couple thousand acres, could they sign on the dotted line? Would they take out an operating loan for over a million dollars, not knowing if they can pay even half of it back at the end of the year? Maybe they will make a couple hundred thousand, or maybe they will lose 500k. My bet is 90% of people wouldn't sign the note.
Let's slow down our roll about how incredibly difficult it is and how there's nobody that can do it...
Farmers are no more special than anyone else, and there are a LOT of people that have risked much, much more than farmers to try to make it. There's no other industry that you can "take out an operating loan for over a million dollars" and be almost guaranteed that at a minimum that loan will be paid back by that crop insurance you referenced. I would bet if 90% of the people knew exactly how much of the risk gets laid off on the government they absolutely would sign on the dotted line. |
Agriculture's image problem
