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| First of all, this is my first post, been reading posts for quite a while now. I'm 20 years old and a junior at Purdue studying Ag Econ. I find myself in a somewhat unique situation and would appreciate some seasoned farmer advice if anyone has some to spare! I farm with my grandpa in Central Indiana, only corn and soybeans. He is 85 now and still runs around like he is 60, but has began talking about retirement. I have always wanted to farm and never imagined doing anything else. Somewhere along the way I started working for a trucking company in the town close to where I live and have worked out a deal to buy that. I plan on making a living from the trucking company and letting the farm build equity to upgrade machinery and take advantage of cash discounts. That seemed like a solid plan until this summer, we cash rent all our land, which is very little (less than 500) and the landlords are older than my grandpa. How is a young guy who isn't being backed by family money with inherited land supposed to make it? Anytime land is for sale around here the big farmers run the bids up and put it out of reach for smaller guys, same story with cash rent. We got a piece stolen from us last year that the new guy is giving $300 an acre for. Obviously not relying on the farm for income alleviates some stress, but at this point I don't even know if I will have any land to farm, period. Has anyone else been in this kind of situation, especially with the way that markets are and how high the input prices are. I appreciate whatever advice I can get! | |
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How is a young farmer going to make it?
