5 ms·

My impression of this is that the successful farmers are ones who cross from producing corn and soy to producing a variety of products which can be directly mar

My impression of this is that the successful farmers are ones who cross from producing corn and soy to producing a variety of products which can be directly marketed at consumers (farmers markets, farm shop, veg box deliveries, pick your own etc) at prices which are far in excess of normal market prices. While this segment of the market is lucrative it's obviously limited in scale; most people want their normally weekly food at industrial scale prices.

kickout 6y ago
The most successful farmers have the best scale (10,000+ acres) of just corn/soy/wheat/cotton (depending on geography). The 'niche' guys may make good money, but their complexity is probably 1x-5x (maybe more) a 'stereotypical' row crop farmers farmers. That has to factor in somewhere.
- VBprogrammer 6y ago
  Yes, that's clearly true, for clarity what I actually meant was "Most successful [at niche no till agriculture]..."
- mikey_p 6y ago
  This is huge, to be successful today you really need to be in the several thousand acres ranges, where only a few generations ago farmers made a living on 100-200 acres. If you can't afford the capital to expand via real estate niche farming is a more viable option for many folks. It's also often more risk than conventional grains, but with typical tradeoffs with higher reward.
  - bluGill 6y ago
    You can be successful on 10 acres - serving those high labor niche markets. Or you can be successful on 3000 acres. It is hard to be in the middle.
  - randomdata 6y ago
    > only a few generations ago farmers made a living on 100-200 acres. You still quite easily can if you own the land outright, even in the grain business. The problem is that you need multi-millions to buy 100-200 acres, which nobody wanting to start farming has, save situations of inheritance. That means, for most, the vast majority of the potential profit turns into servicing debt or paying rent to the actual landowner. When you are only receiving a small portion of the pie that the land is actually generating, that's when you need thousands of acres to accumulate enough. To put it another way: The going rate for rent for farmland around here is around $300/acre. $300 * 200 acres = $60,000. If you own the land and don't have to pay rent, that alone is a decent living; more than most people make. And that is ignoring the profit that someone renting would expect to make off the land.
    - pradn 6y ago
      I'm curious: how much revenue can an acre generate where you are?
      - randomdata 6y ago
        A stellar dry bean crop could push $2,000. But then wheat is a struggle to get much above $500. Corn and soybeans generally ride up the middle between them. Those are the primary crops grown here.

kickout 6y ago

The most successful farmers have the best scale (10,000+ acres) of just corn/soy/wheat/cotton (depending on geography). The 'niche' guys may make good money, but their complexity is probably 1x-5x (maybe more) a 'stereotypical' row crop farmers farmers. That has to factor in somewhere.

VBprogrammer 6y ago
Yes, that's clearly true, for clarity what I actually meant was "Most successful [at niche no till agriculture]..."
mikey_p 6y ago
This is huge, to be successful today you really need to be in the several thousand acres ranges, where only a few generations ago farmers made a living on 100-200 acres. If you can't afford the capital to expand via real estate niche farming is a more viable option for many folks. It's also often more risk than conventional grains, but with typical tradeoffs with higher reward.
- bluGill 6y ago
  You can be successful on 10 acres - serving those high labor niche markets. Or you can be successful on 3000 acres. It is hard to be in the middle.
- randomdata 6y ago
  > only a few generations ago farmers made a living on 100-200 acres. You still quite easily can if you own the land outright, even in the grain business. The problem is that you need multi-millions to buy 100-200 acres, which nobody wanting to start farming has, save situations of inheritance. That means, for most, the vast majority of the potential profit turns into servicing debt or paying rent to the actual landowner. When you are only receiving a small portion of the pie that the land is actually generating, that's when you need thousands of acres to accumulate enough. To put it another way: The going rate for rent for farmland around here is around $300/acre. $300 * 200 acres = $60,000. If you own the land and don't have to pay rent, that alone is a decent living; more than most people make. And that is ignoring the profit that someone renting would expect to make off the land.
  - pradn 6y ago
    I'm curious: how much revenue can an acre generate where you are?
    - randomdata 6y ago
      A stellar dry bean crop could push $2,000. But then wheat is a struggle to get much above $500. Corn and soybeans generally ride up the middle between them. Those are the primary crops grown here.