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| There’s a few reasons. Technology has made it easier to farm more. That led to a decrease in profit per acre. So grandpas and dads needed to keep growing to keep up their lifestyle. Then you have dilution of family land. When most of this stuff got to my generation your talking split 4 to 10 ways. I’d expect to be 60 before I even inherit anything. I hope to have made my own way before then.
They made us go to college and when we got out there was no room. Now if you’re close to 40 like me, our fathers are still having to add acres to keep up. So who’s going to leave a descent job to be a hired man for dad? You can’t buy your way in, the land is all priced for investors to buy, even the established farmers aren’t buying. In fact many are selling to their landlords they like. So a lot of us with it in our blood are just having to try and gather it up slowly.
I farm almost what my grandfather did 15 years ago. I have no farm debt other than some land that’s cheap now. Own a descent cow herd. Yet I’d need to triple in size to even think of replacing my day job that’s just descent pay.
I could max out an FSA note in 60 days and still not have anything but a nights and weekends job that’s I would be 80 time I owned it. Most of us don’t mind the hours. I probably work 100 a week most the year and have friends that do the same. Then there’s the whole issues of I’ll have 150 acres paid for in 10 years, are you willing to risk that to go deeper? A budget today is negative around here before government money. Kinda takes the fun out of it when you can’t pencil the profit on a cash crop. I’ve built a lot of fence and stuff for cows on other folks property the last couple years. That pencils but man it would hurt to get kicked off something like that too. | |
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The post about our ages below .
