"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...
In article , Torsten Brinch
writes
On Tue, 24 Dec 2002 13:06:20 -0000, "Hamish Macbeth"
wrote:

Most professions the salary is the only compensation component.
Farmers
also have an asset (the farm) growing in value (long term).

That is afaik not measured in with farm income, since it is not income
from farming, not compensation for farming. I think it is better
expressed, farmers tend to be also land owners.

Roughly 2:1 vacant possession to tenanted. The added value is only of
use if there is no succession and is a disadvantage where values are
high compared with the earning capacity of the land.


Indeed there might farmers embodying in one, a grubby greedy *******
of a landowner, capitalizing on whatever his other component, the
resourceful, hardworking, chronically underpayed farm worker, might be
helped with to a better living, be it the technological progress or
direct subsidy made available to him by society. In the UK, there
actually has been conspicuously large increases in land value, and
conspicuously highly correlated, in almost perfect tune with the
McSharry reform.

Your politics are on view:-)

It might be instructive to have some input from America where land
values are, presumably, more closely related to what can be grown.

David P might care to comment on how land prices have varied with
respect to inflation.

Oh, well, all professions come with their quirks.

Free stationary and holidays to name two of office workers.

regards

Land prices reflect the ability to make money. It is not tightly bound
because it aslo depends on the abilty of buyers to come up with capital.
Right now non ag money is buying land for the most part. With farm land
historicly paying 4 to 8% return and money costing 5 to 10% not many farmers
can swing the money to operate and buy much land until they are rather
advanced in age. So a great deal of land is rented. There is no way a 35
year old farmer could buy the 5,000 acres he is farming.

Landlords in crop share rent on irrigated land do contribute to the
enterpirse consdierbly by installing all undergound parts of the system and
various deals are made on the above ground parts of the system. The
contributing of the landload vary a great deal depending on the needs of the
farmer and the finances of the landloard. It is in everyones intersest that
the deal works. The way crop rent works maxium yields and preservatin of the
land are the landloards primary concern and maximum profit the farmers goal.
These are not always the same but usualy close enough that everyone gets
along.

In hard times the landlord realizes the farmer has to make a living to be
there to farm it in the future. So it is not a short term arangement.

The field is tilted in the landloards favor. On cotton our cost of
production is 1/4 or less than the farners. But he doesn't have his money
tied up in land and irrigation equipment. Our cost are mostly fixed costs
and his are mostly variable costs.
--
Gordon

Gordon Couger
Stillwater, OK
www.couger.com/gcouger