Oswald No-Till Farm Cleghorn, IA | John,
You made an excellent point that often gets overlooked. In the historical economic cycles of agriculture, one has to ask where the U.S. is and where the others are headed.
The argument has always been that "they aren't making anymore farmland". This is mostly true.... but acres are being remade in other countries where political or economic systems utilized land resources poorly.
I think you are right in pointing out that when technology and political/economic forces eventually intersect, U.S. agriculture will need to compete in a different world and it might not be that much fun.
I think we do have room to tighten down efficiencies in our production system but those things might not be that palatable. We still likely have too many bodies we are trying to support by growing crops for example and an increasing share of those bodies (mine included) don't have long term land tenure on a high percent of their acres.
I think in the "corn belt" we will find a restructuring on how equipment is own and utilized. My guess is that corn harvest will change back to more of the silage or threshing ring type of situation where a big machine is supported by numerous farmers hauling away from it. If so, our grain handling systems will need to deal with that.... are we building the right kind of grain systems to handle incoming 10,000 bu/hour wet corn then able to condition it while the machine(s) are at another farmer's place?
It will take significant creativity in marrying the capacity from technology and our customary individual proprietorships such to help us compete with those countries climbing out of the bottom with no where to go but up. |
Concerning the $3 corn thread below
