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| I wasn't farming in the 80's but as high school kid I remember listening to my father and others talking, I remember them saying rent was cheap, and for a time it was hard for landlords to find a renter. At that time we started renting a 1500 acre farm (2/3 pasture 1/3 crop) owner died and the family sat on the property till spring with no one wanting to rent it. Also remember dad saying government checks were huge, (I don't know the details how they worked) in our area the government payment given out was more than the land rent so you basically had land for free. Also remember that those were the days of a 6 bottom plow, with pony drills behind for seeding wheat and 4 row planters so the burden of taking on new land was the extra labor to get all the work done. From my understanding those that made money in the 70's and were looking to expand in the early 80's that were overleveraged were the ones that failed. So yes the guys that made good money 5 years ago that got greedy and overleveraged themselves are probably hurting right now with these prices, but for the most part I think that 70% of the farmers are doing just fine.
I started farming in the 90's, and the markets were nothing to get excited over, but neither were the inputs or cost of living. If I remember correctly, my cost for seed, fert, chemical, and land rent were under $100/acre. I remember very well that my first crop of corn ran 132bu. * $1.56/bu= $205.92 that wasn't including the LDP that I am sure I received. So that first year farming I doubled my money selling $1.56 corn. In recent years I have not been close to doubling my money, so I guess I would love to go back to those times!!!!!
Edited by Whats Up 3/12/2019 08:44
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Race to the bottom.
