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HDRider

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U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told reporters following an appearance at the World Dairy Expo in Madison that it's getting harder for farmers to get by on milking smaller herds.

"In America, the big get bigger and the small go out," Perdue said.
 
HDRider said:
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told reporters following an appearance at the World Dairy Expo in Madison that it's getting harder for farmers to get by on milking smaller herds.

"In America, the big get bigger and the small go out," Perdue said.

Or find their niche market and serve it well.
 
If speaking about the ag sector, he should of said, "In America, the big get bigger, if the government is there to prop them up."
 
USDA has become infested with hiring goals and promotion based on look, gender or race. It is not called quotas, it is called goals. With quotas, such as the Forest Service, they cannot fill a job until the right type, look or color comes along. In USDA, it is a search for the best fit but not fully qualified and I can tell you horror stories of high level folks who could not write a complete sentence, manage themselves or balance a fund. It is a downward spiral for USDA.
 
HDRider said:
at the World Dairy Expo... it's getting harder for farmers to get by milking smaller herds.
"In America, the big get bigger and the small go out," Perdue said.
He's only acknowledging facts. The small can't make a living producing for commodity markets.
Change is inevitable, as we get deeper into the 21st century it's clear what was medium/large
40 yrs ago is small today, with one foot in the grave and the other shoe already off.

I remember joking in the '80s... it's child abuse to encourage a kid to take over a family farm.
 
It is a fact easily seen with row crops here.

This is what you see in the fields now
4wdtractors-r4e003078-778x436.jpg


This is what Dad used
36-td3a.jpg
 
HDRider said:
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told reporters following an appearance at the World Dairy Expo in Madison that it's getting harder for farmers to get by on milking smaller herds.

"In America, the big get bigger and the small go out," Perdue said.

I really hate to hear that mentality. Bigger isn't better, unless they are counting on things to get to big to fail and we know how that worked out.
 
Son of Butch said:
HDRider said:
at the World Dairy Expo... it's getting harder for farmers to get by milking smaller herds.
"In America, the big get bigger and the small go out," Perdue said.
He's only acknowledging facts. The small can't make a living producing for commodity markets.

American style capitalism can be ugly.

Some "small" conventional diaries are getting by here, because they have no debt. Some small organic dairies are doing well here, because they sell a premium product. Question is - - what happens to these operations when the owner needs to retire ?
 
Stocker Steve said:
HDRider said:
It is a fact easily seen with row crops here.

This is what you see in the fields now
4wdtractors-r4e003078-778x436.jpg


This is what Dad used
36-td3a.jpg

Actually, you need a tracked tractor to be current.
About half the big ones you see are tracked, maybe more than half. That was just the first giant Deere I saw on their website.
 
Actually, I think my son said it is a Super H :roll: :lol2: :lol2: . It still is the best thing in the small irregular shaped hayfields we make hay in. It can roll to start if needed and doesn't take a very big hill.... that old steel seat can get hard after awhile.
 
"In America, the big get bigger and the small go out," U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said this week during a trip to Wisconsin. If this message sounds eerily familiar, that's because it is. In the 1970's, President Nixon's Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz infamously told farmers to "get big or get out."

As secretary, Butz prioritized increasing production and decreasing commodity prices over all else — including farmers' livelihoods, the prosperity of rural communities, the health of consumers and environmental sustainability. He eliminated supply management policies that had previously stabilized food prices, encouraged farmers to "plant fence row to fence row" and relied on export markets to get rid of the inevitable surplus.

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/464856-we-must-reject-the-go-big-or-go-home-mentality-of-modern-agriculture?
 
HDRider said:
"In America, the big get bigger and the small go out," U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said this week during a trip to Wisconsin. If this message sounds eerily familiar, that's because it is. In the 1970's, President Nixon's Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz infamously told farmers to "get big or get out."

As secretary, Butz prioritized increasing production and decreasing commodity prices over all else — including farmers' livelihoods, the prosperity of rural communities, the health of consumers and environmental sustainability. He eliminated supply management policies that had previously stabilized food prices, encouraged farmers to "plant fence row to fence row" and relied on export markets to get rid of the inevitable surplus.

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/464856-we-must-reject-the-go-big-or-go-home-mentality-of-modern-agriculture?

Thanks for posting that HDRider. I for one think we need to bring awareness somehow to the plight of the American farmers and ranchers. We bought into that crap way of thinking and it's put a lot of small producers out of business and bankrupted a lot that tried to make it work. Most consumers don't realize how much the big corporate companies are making of of them while the farmers that actually do the work are getting pennies in the dollar. For a lot of consumers I agree that cost affects purchase decisions does for me too. I also believe that if folks really knew the story and where some of their food is coming from that a lot would also adjust their purchases based on that as well. Many would be appalled if they understood what was going on in regards to country of origin labeling. I have been involved with our local farmers market in the past and know that while most of those customers don't have the big picture they certainly do support buying locally.
The affects of lost agriculture has no doubt negatively affected communities and local societies as a whole. I believe it is paramount to try find markets and do what is necessary to maintain the remaining farmers and ranchers. To me it seems like a ridiculous concept for us to rely on imported food or to have our food supply largely owned by a few large corporations some of which are foreign owned.
That does not seem like a logical approach in terms of national interests or security.
 
https://video.valleypbs.org/video/2-american-grown-my-job-depends-on-ag-vanishing-farms-wzcemq/

American Grown: My Job Depends on Ag - Vanishing Farms
Episode 3 | 26m 48s

Family farms are vanishing across the United States. Exhaustive regulations, new water legislation and fortune 500 companies buying up smaller farms that can't keep up reveal a new strategy of expansion that could bring an end to family farming as we know it.
 
Watched most of the video. Wanted to think it was just California, but we are seeing some large confinement operations move in here. Bio secure hog operations are the most recent.

Are there other places where hedge funds are buying up water rights?
 
I also believe that if folks really knew the story and where some of their food is coming from that a lot would also adjust their purchases based on that as well. Many would be appalled if they understood what was going on in regards to country of origin labeling.

They may give the issue some lip service but that's about the extent for the vast majority of consumers. Retail price is the #1 issue for them when it comes to all ag products..quality/freshness next, origin is down the list a ways. The minor exception to that is very vocal and gets some news minuets (especially on internet blogs) but in the real scheme of things, they don't really make much difference. PRICE is what matters to the consumer! Look at Whole Foods. They're supposedly at the epicenter of 'wholesome natural, quality foods, but command only about 2% of all grocery sales and that probably won't change much, even after Amazon bought them and started dropping their prices.

The study, released Tuesday, found that the price premium gap Whole Foods commands over regional supermarket chains has fallen by almost half, to about 12% to 13%, from 20% before Amazon's purchase. However, when compared with national supermarket chain Kroger, Whole Foods' price premium gap remained a "still significant" 27% on average, despite declining from a difference of as much as 40% in the past, according to the study.

Today In: Consumer
The basket of goods the investment bank studied cost $190 at Whole Foods, just $10 less, or 5% less, than the cost two years ago. And the new combined price tag was still about $40 more than what the batch would cost at Kroger, Morgan Stanley said.
 

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