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market-farming - RE: [Market-farming] charging what the market will bear

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Subject: Market Farming

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  • From: "Rick Williams" <mrfarm AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: RE: [Market-farming] charging what the market will bear
  • Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 21:16:23 -0600

Del Williams wrote:
> I think that if you aren't doing it for a living then you ought to get out
> of the way of the good meaning people who are.

But my point is that it doesn't work that way no matter how many want it to
be different. That is the difference that I see between folks like myself in
the middle and people who are on the extremes and get angry because the
world doesn't work the way they want it to.

> But don't fool yourself into believing that you are running a business.

Some do run it as a business and some don't. It varies depending upon what
they prefer.

> A business will only survive with profit and a livable profit.
>
> Otherwise, you must have someone providing your money to go on and do what
> you love the best... giving away what your soil and hard work produces for
> less than what it is worth.

The USDA points out that some like 2/3 of all farms in the U.S. really do
not provide a profit. Many have to subsidize their operation with outside
income. It would be like buying a ranch and actually trying to make a living
ranching. Can it be done? Of course not. But there are a lot of newer
ranchers. Many don't last, but some do. Same thing with dairy farms in our
area. You will often find that the farm makes very little income with the
smaller farms, one spouse works off the farm at a good job with benefits,
especially medical benefits, and they are able to acquire a long term
capital gain on the farm.

This does not mean that all farmers are doing poorly. The larger farms
typically do better in terms of total family income and there are "sweet
spots" that provide the best return at the current time, if you know where
that point is and are willing to go there. Many are not. Instead they
complain about not making any money and find all kinds of entities to attack
as "the problem."

Sincerely,

Rick Williams





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