Produce Season in the South East

That's what farms do when market prices for their produce is below their cost of production. It sits in the field and rots. Truck drivers could take a lesson from farmers on that one.

 

Farmers are just like everybody else when they make decisions like these. Agriculture is a BRUTAL business. Those of us who feel like we have hard lives should probably imagine walking in their shoes for a day. Imagine if you had to buy the truck six months before you were allowed to start driving it and market rates could be anywhere from .50-4.00 per mile and you HAD to drive for that rate for the next six months...

Yeah that's basically how their business works.

 

Judging by some of their houses and vehicles somebody must do ok.

 

Yep I grew up on a farm and know how that went. Sometimes it was feast and sometimes famine. My grandfather would always try to hedge it by contracting prices on part of his crops and rolling the dice on the other part.

 

This is exactly like saying "Gee trucking must be pretty good... look at how good the England family seems to have it?"

At this point to be a viable farmer you must be pretty large or grow some very niche product that will eventually end up in whole foods. Also never forget that most of those nice houses were bought on credit... along with the land they sit on, the equipment that works the land, the seed that was planted, and the labor that harvested the crop. A lot of farming operations are 1-2 bad years from folding up nice house or no.

 

O/O farming, like trucking, takes years to learn about what works and what don't. We've learned to follow the market trends, along with supply & demand, and always, always, look to diversify. Never depend on just one mode for your sole profitability, as that may be setting yourself up for failure.

For example, conventional dairy right now is really taking a shellacking (too much milk being produced by the mega-farms, which are really not farms in the true sense of the word), and there's truth in what you say about a lot of big farms being "bank owned". We never let ourselves get ensnared by the credit/bank chains and never will, but alas, no new house, car/truck, equipment, etc either...

A few years back with the big drought in the SW, many cut their beef herds significantly, thus opening up good opportunities up here to raise beef, for a little while anyway, as then everyone jumped back on the beef raising wagon. Guess what, we're right back to .80 cents # on the hoof again, drought up here last summer killed the hay crop too= no more profit in beef either.

We can grow squash, beans, corn, pumpkins and other run of the mill produce, as do many others, thus flooding the market, which lowers the price. If the price drops too low, guess what, it helps feed the hogs and other livestock we raise. We have many other farm endeavors that will make up for one items profit loss.

The key to profitability in trucking or farming is to learn the business inside & out, watch your debt & credit load, learn to diversify and be able to spot a good opportunity or niche when one arises.

Oh yeah, don't forget to also pray for good weather and to thank the Good Lord for all he provides to you,

 

Dude. Post of the week right here. Nicely done!

 

Great post @clausland

So many farmers could avoid getting into trouble if they would not let the banks own them a little at a time. They just gotta keep up or try to show up somebody down the road or in the next county.

 

Good friend of the family up here in the north country runs about 200 head of dairy cattle, we were talkin a little while back about that very same issue. He said (and mind you he's about 70-75 years old) that his kids would pay SUCH a premium in inheritance tax that it's not worth it to them to be debt free, he just borrowed a million plus to spruce up the place and update his systems etc. I'm not a tax guru but it made sense to me. They're not in it for the fancy house and king ranch trucks tho it's just a nice little family farm. Been there for 130+ years.

 

Produce in the southeast? As a Stevens driver, the produce is in Florida, pork and chicken is thick in the Carolinas and some GA areas. But what do I know, Im a Stevens driver.