Heil Harvesting, Ulysses KS/Limon CO | Oh why do I get myself into these deals...
I think it is a public service to the whiners--maybe they should put me on TV... The more you know! lol. And yes, I did call you a whiner. Would the clerk please put that in the public record.
If you do not read all of this post please read this. I do not know any of the IFF families. They may be @$$holes for all I know. Never had dealings with them. Here is my deal. I hate to see a shrewd businessman be attacked on a personal level. Never understood how that was ok. It is kind of like name calling. In a debate, whenever the first person starts calling names--they know they are wrong, They have lost. The other side is stronger. When attacks become personal from a business debate; it tells me that you can't attack their business principles, don't have the drive or desire to compete, so to compensate it becomes a question of character. That is not right, moral or fair. It is hurtful on a personal level. I will stand up for them. Till proven otherwise. Till there is a good reason to dislike them. I assume people are good. It has burnt me. Still, I can't imagine living life any other way. Maybe that is a flaw in me. I fail to see a reason to dislike them personally.
IFF may fail. I may fail. You may fail. Either way I am interested in their business model. Not ready to adopt, but interested.
You are correct, I am not an Illinois-ite. I farm in a part of the world where it doesn't rain. Do I understand your stuggles? Absolutely not. Just as you do not understand mine.
Here is what I do know--farming is the same everywhere. Not rainfall, dirt or practices. Rather that it is perfect competition. Economic profit always approaches zero. After all expenses including paid and unpaid labor, profit approaches zero. The same everywhere in the US. So I can relate when it comes to rent, land price. All costs.
Face it. Most farms operate inefficiently. Very inefficiently. That is the norm. Find a way to increase efficiency, find a way to increase profit. They have done this. Many "western operations" adopted efficiency years ago. The point of operating business is profit.
So define family farm for me please. What does that entail? Is there a size limit? Do the families have to be nuclear? What makes you a real family farm? What makes IFF not a real family farm? Why do you get to be the moral authority?
Consolidation has been in Ag since farming started. Those who fail to adopt technology struggle. Or prior generations have adopted technology. Then they coast. Eventually the old is obsolete. And then it is a struggle.
From reading between the lines in the article--it looks like there is three to four thousand acres per family unit. I do not believe that there are not hundreds of operations in the state of Illinois that operate at that level.
This public service announcement was brought to you by the Jasmines House of Pancakes.
Edited by beh 4/12/2009 12:03
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IL Family Farms
