"Jim Webster" wrote in message ...
Old Codger wrote in message
news:vhIS9.10682$4k6.945006@wards...

"Jim Webster" wrote in message
...

which part of the life style to you crave. Working outdoors whatever
the
weather, the 24 hrs on call, no weekends off, no paid holidays, no
sick
leave. No street lighting, roads poorly maintained, poor electricity
supply, poor telephone connection, the fact that if you want to go
anywhere at all there is no viable public transport and you have to
have
a car.

So why do you farm Jim?

remember the money side of it, the holidays, time off etc is now far
worse than it was ten or twenty years ago. We have seen our quality of
life go backwards



You can't compare running a business to working for wages. The guy
working for wages gets paid if the crops get planted or not. It's not
his problem if it doesn't raising or it rains too much. He is not
borrowing money at 12% on a enterprise that historically pays 8% or
less.

He also gets a dole when he is put out to pasture and the farmer has
the land to rent as well as the public dole. Many in my family stay on
the ranch until they can't physically tend the cattle. My grandmother
sold out when she was 90. Her brother at 86 his son about the same.

My dad retired from farming at 65 but took up part time commercial
fishing for 20 years and worked part time in a fishing tackle shop to
have something to do when he turned 70 and the income didn't count
against his social security.

The goal is to leave enough land to take care of your self in you old
age with enough left for you kids to build enough to take care of
their needs. So far it has worked pretty well for the last 129 years.

The changes that stared in the last half of the last century may make
this impossible. If we can keep producing ever cheaper crops we are
fast running out of ways to cut costs on much larger scales. In the US
we are reaching the limits of the willingness of lenders to risk money
on man for that much money. The exposure is too large. In the UK no
one seems to care. In the EU red tape, the real problem of physicals
problems of increasing the size of farming and high costs put them at
a considerable disadvantage. If the red tape was gone tomorrow the
problems world be only marginally better. In the developing world we
have lots of folks telling them how to do it but damn few getting
their hands dirty and showing them how to do it. China stands almost
alone wiht a modern ag policy and the political will to impalement it
and are putting their money where there mouth is.

If you want GM policies and crop developed by China continue as you
are and we will be buying what they have to sell. If you would rather
have them developed by more ethical and responsible nations get your
asses to work doing it.

The 30 years Norman Borlaug promised is running out and at 86 we
can't depend on him to continue to fight the fight to feed the tried
world when all the well meaning well fed rich donors that have no
first, second or third hand knowledge of agriculture decide that
GreenPiece et. al. are the authority because they make the most noise
and follow a course that is the exact opposite of what it takes to
feed the world in a sustainable manner.

If you goal is to control the population by setting lose the four
horsemen of the acropolises on the third world and rape and pillage
the third world of its soil, biodiversity, culture and independence
the greens are on the right track. Because they see no problem in
comparing farm profits to wages of service laborers. It show their
basic lack of understanding of agriculture. It is not a job you apply
for and get. It is an opportunity that come generaly only once or
twice in a lifetime and you do or you don't. Once you quite it is very
difficult to get started again with out a real sugar daddy.

If all the barbers in the UK vanished tomorrow it would be
inconvenient for a month or two until everyone figured out how to cut
each others hair but if all the farmer packed up and went to Canada,
the US. South America or Oz. They would be in a hell of a mess in 10
days putting food on the table. The food is not out there to do it and
if it was it would take 3 or 4 month to get a system working and the
price would be 4 or 5 time what it is now and the exporters would be
raking in the money.

Even Saudi Arabia is self sufficient in food.

Gordon

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