Ken,
I'm somewhat of a hobby farmer myself, I play with '50s vintage equipment and
farm mostly weeds. The farmers of today have amazing technology, my '52 IH
Super M is like 45hp and was considered a pretty big machine in its day.
Today's tractors can have 1000hp or better and have GPS and other technological
gizmos to help the farmer get the best yield possible.
My wild guess would be that in the last 50 years yields have probably trippled
or quadrupled. In that time the cost of fuel has gone up 10x or more, the
tractor has gone up 5x or more, wages for employees have gone up probably 5x,
you get the idea.
The price of corn has gone up doodly and beans has fallen. Its just as bad or
worse when you talk about milk.
The profit all goes to the middlemen, that $4 box of cornflakes costs $0.05 in
corn but theres also some small (and I mean piddling) amount to be made by the
store. So who gets the profit? Thats Kelloggs, they mix some sugar and malt in
with the corn and boom *profit*. Think like diamonds, they cost NOTHING for the
raw materials. They're generally cut and polished in India for squat, but for
some reason we've been duped into believeing they're "rare".
-Curt
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 09:58:31 EDT
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [MBZ] Re: Mercedes Digest, Vol 2, Issue 116
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Scott, not to pick a fight, but would you also comment on the amount of
time
the farmer spends in his field nowdays compared to yesteryear? I hear
you talk
about farmers needing primary jobs to survive, but I'm also aware that
there
is a big difference from plowing the field with an open crawler tractor
and
gang plow and the wheeled tractors with enclosed cabs, and air
conditioning. My
guess is 1/10 the time? With the modern pesticides and fertilizers
doesn't the
farmer also get a better yield per acre?
I think there is a change that the traditional farmer is going through.
When
traditional retail type businesses went through a big change 10 years
ago they
coined new words, like "just in time" shipping and paradiem shift, etc.
I
think you would agree with me that most of the little mom and pop
hardware stores
were gobbled up by the box stores. (Lowes, Home Despot (must be a
typo))
Those business owners who took over the family business from their
parents were
suddenly out on the street with their livelyhood destroyed.
Remember the accountant that worked in the drug store, hardware store
and
almost every other business? He spent hours each day tallying reciepts,
making
daily deposits at the bank, and figuring inventory. What happened to
him? He
lost his job to a computer. He was taken over by the firm who, for
pennies per
employee would plug in the hours and spit out paychecks by the tens in
minutes
for that company. The cash register now keeps track of inventory and
totals the
sales. The credit cards are automatically deducted from the customers
account
and credited to the merchant.
While I am sensitive to your loss of the family farm heritage, it
appears to
me that most every other occupation has changed over the years. I
closed my
full service, Texaco service station in 1985. A self service mini mart
now
stands in it's place. When the gypo stations were selling fuel for less
than I was
paying for branded fuel it was hard to make ends meet. I let my NIASE
(now
ASE) master mechanic certification lapse and went to a different line
of work.
The investment to keep buying the new testing and service devices to
stay in
service as an independant mechanic didn't pencil out for me. The last
scope I
bought, about 1983 was $3200.00. Ask your mechanic what one costs now.
The times, they are a changin'. Our challenge is to find a way to keep
the
lifestyle we desire and make a decent living. I now work on cars as a
hobby, and
have a primary job to pay the bills. Is there a parallel between your
experience and mine?
Ken
hoping you get the rain and sun in appropriate amounts.
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