Heil Harvesting, Ulysses KS/Limon CO | jasonl - 4/12/2009 19:29
So Mark, in all reality it is ok for Illinoisboy or me to come down to Kansas and contact your landowners and try to bid up your farms and try to get them from you? I am sure you would not think much of us if we did that, and you either lost it or it cost you an extra $50 an acre (fictional of course, I have no idea what kansas land is worth) to keep it. In the mean time you were paying the going rates along with all your neighbors so you were not screwing the landowner. I know that I would probably not last long there, maybe just long enough to mine the soil, cause I was paying big rents but you did lose the land for 3 years or so which put you out of business for 3 years, what are you going to do? You probably wouldn't be able to start up again after that, so in my eyes the dream is over.
I feel very strongly that it is MY job to keep something once I have made the sale (rental). I invite people to talk to my customers/landlords/whatever. They know what I do for them, they are happy. If I am not meeting their needs, that be money, or something else, they SHOULD go somewhere else. I do not find an add on the web intimidating at all, if I lose land to an advertisement on the web, I had already lost it and just didn't know it yet.
Final thoughts on my philosophy, something is worth whatever the highest bidder is willing to give in compensation. Compensation can be many things to many different people, money, relationship, maintenance, whatever. What the greatest compensation is depends on the individual landlord. I feel that as land lords become less and less connected to farm ground, it becomes more and more about money, less and less about whether the ditches are mowed and the building site is maintained. Maybe right, maybe not, but a person has to figure out what excites a land lord. They want a check and some little things that make them feel good.
We have lost ground and gained ground over time, but I would never say we have stolen ground or had ground stolen from us. It is all about compensation, ground we lost we did not provide the compensation to the land lord necessary to retain the ground which was OUR choice, and ground we have gained and retained we provided the compensation the landlord wants. Again compensation is not all money.
jasonl - 4/12/2009 19:29
All this is tongue and cheek of course, I don't want to go to Kansas, but I wish you could understand what some of the guys are trying to say. These big operators are putting people out of business and it is almost proven that they don't last more than a few years and it rips farm familys apart. I guess that is their right, it is still America, that is what this Country was founded on, but how much is enough? As always the conversations are interesting!!!
Most big operations fail? Really. That should create opportunity. Failure in business is a part of capitalism. Size does not matter. It is the business cycle. Someone will be here to pick up BTO Xs ground. More power to them. They weathered the storm. Some won't be there to do such. It is all a part of capitalism. |
IL Family Farms
