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cropsey, il 61731 | beh, try to understand that most producers see operations like IFF a lot like a circus juggler juggling 8 running chainsaws, 3 lit torches and 4 lit sticks of dynamite. Sure it's cool while he's juggling, but how long can he keep it up and what happens if there is an oops? The downside appears devistating. While some of us will try our hand with the chainsaws and maybe a really aggressive guy might throw in the torches almost no one adds the dynamite. It's not like IFF gets anything free or always makes perfect decisions and these high input prices combined with lower commodity prices make for lots of barely break even operations - what's that mean for scale?. Some of us are in better financial shape and can wait for better prices (deeper pockets), but on a large scale there isn't pockets deep enough.
Not that anyone really wishes bad things to happen, but we all expect operations like IFF to be significantly affected by these conditions (most of us are). On the other hand, if there is no effect, we all want to understand why - this is where the head buried in the sand comes in - is there some reason working on almost no profit per acre paying big rents, leasing all your equipment and be spread out all over with high fuel prices actually works better than being more conservative. The answer to that question will actually affect the way we go forward. Keep in mind this isn't a comparison between a 1500a guy and a 6000a guy, this a comparison between everyone vs. 30-40K acre guy still wanting to grow.
It is fascinating and Rick R. is providing a push the limits study in farming for us all to see,
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IL Family Farms
