Re: I'm a little disappointed

Posted by Hal/WA on September 15, 2004 at 22:30:42 from (148.78.243.26):

In Reply to: I'm a little disappointed posted by Allan in NE on September 15, 2004 at 07:09:49:

I guess it would depend on how healthy you and your wife are and how your finances are doing. I know people that are real old and decrepit at 65 and I know others that are still doing very well and can out work me at 80. We are all different and farming is hard work with long hours.

One of the sad facts about farming these days, at least fairly small farming, is that it is hard to even break even, much less make a profit. I grew up in a farming area where there were many smaller farms that were doing OK in the 50's and 60's with 160 acres or less. Most of those small farmers also worked in town, but earned enough from their farms to pay the taxes, keep smaller machinery working, put in and harvest a crop every year and pay for the land over time. All that changed in the 70's when everything but what farmers got for their crops got inflated. People thought the only way to make it farming was to get big and farm more land with larger equipment for "economy of scale". Unfortunately the high interest rates of the late 70's did in a lot of farmers. Now there are only a few very large farmers. Some of them appear to have done very well, but I know several people that just gave up farming their own land and leased it to others. They couldn't come out on the machinery costs. When I graduated from high school, I would guess that at least 75% of the families with kids in my school got some or all of their income from agriculture, I bet that at the same school today that figure is less than 10%.

So what I am driving at is that if you are in a position financially to invest a bunch of money in a farm and all that goes with it and can handle the FACT that you probably will not get any return on your investment and that it may continue to be a large financial drain, you might want to consider going for it. There are lots of ways to spend your money that I think are less attractive than trying to farm. I love living in the country (although my area is becoming suburbia....) and I hope to live here on my 20 acres until I can no longer leave under my own power. But I have been here a long time and after working a long career, get a decent pension.

But if you are not in such a good financial position and if it would be important for the farm to bring in very much income or profit at all, I would advise you to try to find a little place in the country to buy or rent and just do some hobby farming. It is fun to fool around with smaller old tractors and used equipment that fits them. And unless you think you need to get too many of them, the tractor and machinery hobby isn't that expensive. Putting up a little hay makes your ground look better and if you raise your own beef, you know what it has eaten.

I just have seen too many good farmers, who really knew what they were doing, end up losing their tails in a bad year or to unforseen circumstances and going bankrupt.

Good luck--country living is how I want to live. Only you can decide if your dream is what you really want to do and if you can afford it.

Follow Ups:

• Re: I'm a little disappointed cockshuttguy 17:21:36 09/16/04 (0)

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