I second that.

 

My dad was raised on a farm. It was great training for him - he could weld, fix anything mechanical and get things done. He once said, "No such thing as a lazy farmer - only lazy ex farmers". My hats off to them for being the best in the world.
Dono

 

bobbyl,

i sure hope there money in agriculture because in two years ill be looking for a job with my ag systems management degree. i personally think there's lots of money in ag if you know what your doing, and you have your own little niche in the market. do one thing and do it well. farms that have a little bit of everything typically can't make it today. also, small few hundred acre farms that have less than 100 animals are having a real hard time making it anymore. especially in PA, 40 years ago there was farms everywhere and everyone was making money at it. my grandfather sold bulk tanks and equipment from '55 to '75 and had a very sucessful business back then. but nowadays everyone is selling out and developing their fields because theres no money in it for the little guys. big production farms and ranches can make a profit at what they do, because they can keep their marginal costs much lower than smaller farms. per acre, they can raise crops at a fraction of the cost a small farmer can. there will always be money in farming, because people have to eat- and this is going to become more and more important in the coming years with the way the world's population is going. where the money is at in the industry is constantly changing, however. there's so many parts to the industry, that just asking if you can make money in farming isn't really an answerable question. small dairy farms (40-100 head) all around where i live have steadily been going out of business for as long as i have been around, but i applied for an internship at a farm that just increased its herd size from 100 to 500 and eventually to 1100 head of cattle- which is huge where im at. you know they have to be making money at it. same goes for crops- small farmers can't even hope to compete financially with guys crop farming 500 to 20,000 acres- because they can do everything cheaper in the long run. i can get a job with an equipment manufacter straight out of college making 40-60,000 a year. so yea there's money in it- you just have to look around and find it.

one thing as far as all this is concerned is the future. farming is becoming more and more concentrated out west, while the eastern farmable lands are being developed. at the same time, the water supply in the aquifers of the midwest and west is drying up and becoming a nonrenewable resource in a hurry. in the northeast we are getting all the rain we need and then some. our groundwater supplies are more than adequate- but we have less and less crops to grow with it. it will be very interesting to see what happens 20-50 years down the road with the state of agriculture in our country- soley because of water supply.


and as far as our farm, its just a hobby for my father- gives him something to spend his money on. we have about 100 head of beef cattle- something to keep us busy in addition to full time jobs and school.

 

I,m an Agronomist for a farm. We grow corn, soybeans, sorghum, and wheat on 1500 acres. They are also a large seed dealer. I'm originaly from Illinois and have moved to Kansas. There is a big difference in kind of crops grown and farming practices between the regions. It has been a learning experince.

 

I got aobut 1/3 acre, and raise a few thousand fireants and other annoying critters, and I used to raise a family of mice in my car...does that count, never does make any money though

 

I am a farm kid who plans to start farming this fall. I am going to rent 86 acers of my dads farm and am gona give it a try. Now that I am going to be done with school in a few weeks and have a job lined up I will have some money to get going and to buy cattle. The best thing IMHO a farmer can do is keep th expenses and debts as low as you can.

 

Farming is the only business I can think of where you buy retail and sell wholesale!

 

These last 5 years of hard drought have been hard on us. We have a mail contract so we easily survived but even so its hard, and since its not possible to predict the weather, you can be hurt, but land is cheap right now.