Whilst wandering the backroads of the Nebraska Panhandle I came across an old abandoned farmstead that had this old truck rusting in the tall grass.
I can just imagine some farmer hauling his hard red winter wheat crop to market in this old truck. 50 bushel a load and thinking how high tech he was because the horse drawn wagon would only haul about 10 bushel AND the trip took all day.
Now we have semi's that haul 900 bushels. The only thing that hasn't changed is the price we get for our wheat. We are still averaging about what our father's got for wheat in the 1950's with production costs far far more. Remeber, gas was 19 cents a gallon in the 50's. This old truck was probably purchased for a 3 figure price. Times have changed. Today's farmers and ranchers ride the razors edge each year as to weither he will be able to operate again next year. One hail storm, one misjudgement in the market, one mistake with chemicals, one big breakdown ($25,000 tractor overhaul) and he is no longer farming. The bank is selling him out. Unlike the auto industry, farm operations have to cash flow or they never get the loan. AND we have to repay our loans.
No comments:
Post a Comment