Re: sanet #507 Farmer income
LionKuntz@aol.com
Mon, 24 Aug 1998 23:06:55 EDT
> Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 15:58:37 -0700
> From: Richard Olson <csas005@unlvm.unl.edu>
> Subject: Re: How to get rich selling watermelons
>
> Alex-
>
> From "A Time to Act, The Report of the USDA National Commission on Small
> Farms," page 28 -- "the average farm with annual gross sales between
$50,000
> and $250,000 has a net cash income of only $23,159. Over 80 percent of a
> farmer's gross sales are absorbed by farming expenses."
>
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Lion >> And to think, there are commodity brokers making millions off these
guys. But then again, they may only be making $23K/year, but these farmers
are "millionaires" on paper, with all their land, home, barns, equipment.
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>
> I also spoke with an ag economist at UNL who tracks farm profits in
> Nebraska. He said that for eastern Nebraska, average net farm income is 5%
> to 15% of gross income. And the trend is downward.
>
> This is why so many farms are not making it, and why we need alternative
> farming systems that can survive without constantly getting bigger (while
> driving others out of business).
>
>
> Richard Olson
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Lion >> I don't know what to tell them. mmmmmm, thinking for a few seconds,
Yes, I do! If your plan is to make $23k/year one can do that with a lot less
land, and a lot less debt, and a lot less risk, and a lot less work. Screw
the IMF bigwigs who plot how to subjugate other nations through multinational
food-subversion. mmmmmm, thinking for a few more seconds, OPPS, that won't
work, because these guys are on a treadmill they can't ever get off, what with
that debt and all. mmmmmm, more thinking, Well then they could..., no these
guys have to drive sixty miles to the nearest doctor to get their arm sewed
back on after the thresher chopped it off, so CSAs are out of the question,
mmmmmm, thinking, mmmmmm, thinking, no I was right the first time, I don't
know what to tell them. So, Well, That's it then. The Devil won and God's
people lost this world. The slaves are actually working 80-hour weeks to make
$227,000 each year to give to the people who are destroying the global ecology
systematically, and working for a menial $23,000 for their families. Gee, it
used to be such a nice planet too. Oh, well, win some, lose some.
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