price of cotton seed

it's been a long time ago,almost 30yr's,my family farm had cotton,soy beans,and corn.the last years we farmed we had all cotton.i never knew what any of it costed but i do remember all the stress i could see in my dads eyes every year when it was dry when you prayed for rain and when you were tryen to get what little you grew out all you got was rain.i ran into a guy we bought out seed and chemicals from and he was telling me how the price of everything had gone up.he told me a bag of cotton seed,which was the "roundup ready"yada,yada, "good"kind was 500$ a f****N bag! a bag will plant 4 acr. why can a farmer not get rich nowdays! just my little rant for the day.

If only you knew what stuff cost on the farm you would wonder why anyone would do it.

whatbumper wrote:If only you knew what stuff cost on the farm you would wonder why anyone would do it.

X2 $300,000 combines and $250,000 tractors. Hell I paid more for a vehicle today than my wife's granddad did for 160 acres 50 years ago.

whatbumper wrote:If only you knew what stuff cost on the farm you would wonder why anyone would do it.

thats what i'd like to know?sometimes i do miss it but we went through some of the worst years,early 80's,that i can remember. i'll never forget cutting soybeans in 6"of water.the water would wash the beans back in the combine like waves on the beach that year sucked.

I dont know about where you guys live but where i come from a million dollars wont buy you 640 acres anymore either.

Diggindeeper wrote:I dont know about where you guys live but where i come from a million dollars wont buy you 640 acres anymore either.

Heck that will barely buy 160 where I live. There has been dirt trade in excess of $6,000/acre for farm ground with no possibility of commercial development.

schmitty wrote:

Diggindeeper wrote:I dont know about where you guys live but where i come from a million dollars wont buy you 640 acres anymore either.

Heck that will barely buy 160 where I live. There has been dirt trade in excess of $6,000/acre for farm ground with no possibility of commercial development.

about 10 years ago is when the first million dollar section (640 acres) was sold around where i come from. I have no idea what it is now, i can guarantee it hasnt gone down.
I do know that even for rent the potato growers pay big time. McCain needs those potatos for McDonalds fries.

whatbumper wrote:If only you knew what stuff cost on the farm you would wonder why anyone would do it.

The attitude of Americans today is, if I cant get rich doing it, it isnt worth doing.

Our grandfathers believed that if it paid the bills, fed the family and left enough to do it again next year, it was worth it.

problem is with such high figures your dealing with its hard to get started, and easy to get yourself into financial trouble.
when you can burn $2000 per day just in fuel, never mind chemical and seed, other operating expenses, and you have not even made a payment on a few 300,000 pieces of equipment, or paid insurance or made a mortgage payment on your house for that matter........
I have no desire to go farming thats for sure. I'll stick with making lights and plug ins work for a living, I have enough trouble collecting payment for $1000 bills from dead beat customers.

Farming has evolved just like every other type of business, it is just that there is only so much land available for crop production. As far as a new farmer being able to get in, it is possible. Just find someone willing to give you a chance and rent their land to you. It is lots of hours and hard work, combined with a lot of business sense. There is decent margin in it most years to make a decent living, but you need to have a banker that is willing to be in it for the long haul with you. I have seen more than one young guy in my neighborhood start from scratch in the business, it just takes a willingness to do what it takes to get the ball rolling. One guy that I graduated high school with started as a hired man for a guy that was going to retire soon, and made the deal that he would rent the land from him when he was ready to hang up his hat. He spent 10 years learning and working hard and when the opportunity came around the old guy kept his end of the bargain and rented his land to him. They have a great working relationship, and the farmers kids are very receptive to him keeping the farm in great shape and continuing the legacy.

best thing to do is to get into a situation where the bank can't afford to let you fail

















I AM kidding about that.

whatbumper wrote:best thing to do is to get into a situation where the bank can't afford to let you fail

















I AM kidding about that.

Hey if it worked for GM (and numerous others) why cant it work for the people.
I dont like too much debt so i couldnt hack farming. I'm under the 100K mark and i'd like to keep it that way

put it to you this way. we make a lot of money each year. but it cost us a lot of money to do it.

yep large numbers in, large numbers out.
my bro in law is a big wheel hot shot farmer like all yall.

He is one who started from nothing, and 10 years later is a fair size operation now. Its much harder up here, we pay more to play.

whatbumper wrote:put it to you this way. we make a lot of money each year. but it cost us a lot of money to do it.

it's all about how much you have left over one bad year makes it hard for years to come.most "high rollers" have insurance dont they?