In article a8AO9.464867$P31.155415@rwcrnsc53, Gordon Couger
writes
It might be instructive to have some input from America where land
values are, presumably, more closely related to what can be grown.

It would seem to be rather more on-topic to get some input from UK,
where you imply land values are less closely related to what can be
grown (and as I have pointed to, apparently closely related to the
level of subsidy given by society to the land owners.) If high land
values is or has become a problem for UK farm profitability, as you
seem to suggest it could be, we should certainly look into the matter
with some focus.

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

I am not sure that leads to anything. Afaics there is no correlation
between those two variables in the period we are talking about.

How big and arse hole a land lord can be depends on the nuber of people
willing to rent his land the abilty of these farmers to make him money. In
the US the better farmers are truning down land that does not pay well, fit
into there operation or the land lord becomes to big a PITA.

Is there a *residential* component in US farmland prices? You have ample
land and cities look too widely spaced for the commuter *lifestyle*
purchase that overheats our land market.

If the bulk of the profit is from subsites the landlord can affrod to be a
pretty big PITA and the farmer take it. In a situaion where there is money
to be made in the market from the landlord and tenat working to geather the
landloards thar are a lot of trouble and don;t want to invest in the land
will find the better farmers can't afford to keep them.

We are told that US farmers do not benefit from direct subsidies:-)

That is the situation in much of the USA today. Eventualy it is IMHO the end
results of all agricultre. Resisting change just puts the ones resisting
deeper in the hole and they don't seem to learn that the frist rule of holes
is when you find youself in one is to stop digging not buy earth moving
machinery to make digging the hole moe effective.

You would need pumps as well over here at the moment.

Some day the ineffecies have to be recociled and the longer it is the worse
the recocilation will be.

Hmm.. The cure here would be for the planning authorities to zone so
much development land that house prices reflect the cost of construction
rather than the underlying land value.

This would upset rather at lot of voters and party supporters.

regards

--
Tim Lamb