An Old Farmer

A Friend, who rents 3000 Acres to his Sons that farm maybe 2000 Acres more, buys a new Combine every year with running two Combines continuously-trading Each every other year. He tells me the current Price for a Combine is $250,000, with the Cost of the Header around $50k. The interesting element is the Trade-in value of the Combine: Implement Dealers subtracting $1200 per hour of Running time (I believe these Rigs can harvest 83 acres per hour). I should remind that the new Rigs require a different Header for Corn, another for Wheat, and a third for Soybeans. Tim Haab insists that U.S. Farm policy should only correct market failures and I could agree, but here We have market failure which is overlooked.

The main element of strife is the multiplicity of Farmers, facing an oligarchy of Implement manufacturers, Financial agents, and formula Dealerships. The multitude of Farmers confront a technologically controlled Market for their Needs; be it Equipment, Seed, Fertilizer, Transportation, or Finance. Farmers have for years called for more Fuel-efficient, smaller, less-Expensive equipment suited to their actual Needs. Check the Market for how closely the incorporated Suppliers have listened to their Demands. Another Farmer Demand is for more durable equipment, but modern Machine operation reminds of the Downtime for the Abrams tank (if you don’t know about this item, think you are lucky with a full Day in the field without Maintenance).

I would, like Tim, enjoy rewriting the 2007 Farm Bill. The difference between Us resides in my concentration on the protection of Farmers from the oligarchical Corporate structure. I would inject Tax Credits for Agricultural Co-Operative Associations which purchase Equipment for joint use by their Membership including all Financial Service Costs as well as Equipment and Labor Costs. Such Associations could utilize the large-scale equipment effectively. They could also provide a united front to reduce oligarchical Pricing from Implement manufacturers, and employ their own Service personnel to work with and on the Equipment. I would also penalize Implement, Fertilizer, and Seed companies, with Withdrawal of their Research Tax Credits, if they could not prove ecological improvement in their Product–less Fuel, fewer bio-hazards, or less Soil erosion. I should also inform Tim that the Program will likely present Consumers with cheaper Food Product. lgl