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| I was a teenager back in the 70's .Been thinking back in time the last couple days. Farming was awesome during that period. Farmers were happy. Buying new IH 1066's , JD 4430's ,they couldn't build em fast enough. Grain prices were good, inputs were cheap. Neighbors were good neighbors. Most everyone seemed content.
Then things changed. Prosperity many times gives into greed and the desire to want more. Prolly about the late 70's early 80's thing really ramped up, a lot of irrational exuberance took place in farm
country.
Then it was over as interest rates skyrocketed ,grain prices plummeted and equity was lost.
Mid to late 80's was a very dark period for most of ag as I remember. Lot of good generational farms were lost.
Living thru periods like that can help and hurt you. Can help you being cautious by not getting too overleveraged and it can hurt you as you can be hesitant to take on a good risk.
Has the last few years been our 70's with good prices, plus the govt goodies?
Is this time period going to be our 80's.?Not sure, some things bear resemblance, others do not. Corn prices have returned to a lower range , making margins a little skinny with input costs where they are. Land prices seem to be supporting any possible equity drain right now. Seems as though they need to correct , however maybe they won't. I supposed it depends on how long we are faced with subdued commodity prices.
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Revisting the 70's
