Combines Combine Repo s

I'm wondering why are the owners giving these machines back to the dealerIJ I assume from what you say that they do custom harvesting.

John Deere is picking up those customers who have not been able to make full payments the last two years. Deere works very hard to work with all its finance customers on a plan to get their loans current. It is Deere's best interest to see their customers stay in business. Their are times when the customer has no money and no plan to pay back their loans. At this time the machines are repoed and returned to the dealers lot. They are put out on a bidlist for JD dealers to bid. Deere then sells the equipment and works with the customer on the overage or shortage. Farming is not a right but a privledge some customers made poor decisions on how much debt and equity they kept in their machines. Most custom cutters and farmers are in excellent financial condition only a small group are in financial trouble.

well i have to disagree with you. how in the hell can ya make any kind of payment when we are only getting a doller for our durum. i might remind you that i do live in durum country. i would surely think that the goverment could do somthing about these low prices. as far as i concerned you are totaly wrong by making the coment that some farmers took on to much dept. maybe you are one the farmers where $$ is no object. maybe you are a landhog and cant get enought money. maybe you are one of the ones who owns or farms a whole township!!!! before you go and flap you big mouth ya better know what your talkin about.

You really stuck your foot in your mouth on that last statement. There are a lot of my dad's farmer friends who are just barely hanging on and we know of many guys who are going to harvest their last crop this year. I asked my dad this evening if he could name one farmer he knows that is in excellent financial condition and he could name none. A friend who works at the Farm Service Agency told us without even looking at records he could name at least a 15 farmers in the area who were living at or below poverty level. With these high fertilizer, fuel, and equipment costs you are just living a big joke if you think it works. Farming is the greatest way of life on earth but I don't see how you can say most farmers are in excellent condition. All the ones we know, including ourselves are simply thankful to the lord that we have been able to continue as long as we have and pray that that something will change very soon for the better.

What are these guys who are good financial shape growingIJ The only farmers that I know in this part of the country who are in good financial shape either have an outside source of income or are independantly wealty. In my county there are only 13 farms left, down from about 30 ten years ago. Six of us work other jobs off the farm. One farm is a corperate venture bought by a bunch of millionare investors who need a tax shelter, and a hunting preserve. Two others owned are millionare lawyers from NY, who own farms as tax shelters. Another guy made a fortune in other business ventures, and farms as a hobby. Another owns a big trucking company, and farms as a hobby. The other two guys who are the only REAl full time farm operators left are barely hanging on by running 25 year old equipment. Of these two one is about 80 years old and probably about ready to retire anyway, and the other owned a lot of timber much of which has been marketed recently. I am the only farmer in this county who is less than 50 years old, most are 60+ and none of the others has any sons who came back to the farm. In this last year, we had one guy who just decided to call it quits even though he was in decent financial shape, because he just could not afford to replace his equipment that was wearing out. It is a sad state of affairs when you have an agricultural situation that is so bad that nobody can make a decent living farming anymore, and all the farms are being bought up by millionares.

What are we growingIJ 50% Dryland Spring Wheat - 50% Summer-Fallow. Nice line of machinery. One payment left till it's paid for. Farm small enough that I can do all work by myself. I'll share a secret with you - you don't do it by crying and whining about how hard times are. You think outside the box and figure a way to make it work.

I farm small enough to do all the work myself too, All of my machinery is paid for as well, but it is 20 + years old, and I can't afford to go into any debt to replace any of it. I have barely broken even on my farming operation for the last five years, and one year when it did not rain, I actually had to subsidize the farm with income from my off-farm job. My father made a decent living off of this farm for more than 20 years, but I don't know how much longer I can stay in business with the current commodity prices. My dad was getting more money for a bushel of corn, soybeans, and wheat back in 1970 when he started farming than we get for it now. The input costs to produce an acre of grain have more than tripled in the last 30 years, while production per acre has increased slightly. I am now farming five times the acreage that dad was making a GOOD living off of in 1970, and I still have to work off the farm. Where I come from you can't stay in business long term like that, unless you know something about voodoo economics.

VAfarmboy, Man you got it bad. But I'm not talking about your economic situation. That's not it. You say your dad made a good living farming in '70IJ I don't know the man but he must know something, he made through some tough times. I was just a young up-and comer back in '70, so I can't say too much about farm economics, but I do remember that a lot of young beginning farmers like yourself had it tough in a different way.They got to be grand prize winners in the lottery. Only back in the day it was called the Draft lottery. And the grand prize was'nt much of a prize, you got an all expense paid trip to Southeast Asia, jam packed with lots of activities, gar-uhn-teed to leave you with many memories. Maybe you know somebody like that. My pointIJ That wasnt fair. I once confronted a vet with this true fact and that I felt guilt on account of I did'nt go, to which he said good, that's why he went, so I would'nt have to. Made me feel better, but still does'nt make it fair. You went to college, rightIJ You saw the other kids roll up to class in Beemers and Vettes and whatever, and you had a bike or walked or maybe some older ride 'cause you blew your money on frivilous stuff like books and tuition. And you know its because they came from privledge, and they goin' right back to it. And that does'nt seem fair. look at the Alumni News and they'll tell you all about the promotion they got or the trip around the world they took. And there you are, picking corn or whatever, in some old 4400 wondering how to pay all the bills. "Where did I go wrongIJ" You'll say to yourself. lemme tell ya, you're not gonna read about the 3 divorces or the ulcers or the bad- back-pot belly from no activity, or various other family problems these types have. You need to consider this. So you got twenty year old equipmentIJ What's so significant about twenty yearsIJ George Foreman had forty five year old equipment when he won the heavywieght crown. Some poor dude in China is slogging around behind a twenty year old ox and a walking plow. Got his pants rolled up, barefoot, steping in manure and who knows what. Hey, I like farming too, but anybody thinks they're gonna see ME doin' THAT comes from Mars. I'm not trying to dissrespect you. But you can't get hung up with your head all down because things are'nt happening as planned. life just plain is'nt fair, and economics sure 'aint fair. If things were fair, all of us in the Farming Game would make money. But any time you blame someone or something for your situation, you give that someone or something control over you. Then, you are not in control, it is. What I'm saying is, you gotta do the best you can, and focus on what you CAN do. let what you got no control over take care of itself. Or better yet, let The One that put you here take care of it for you. Well, that's the beauty of free advice. You're out nuthin'. But if you let yourself get bitter now, while you're young, it won't matter if you're still farming in ten or twenty years, you'll be miserable. Anybody can farm with all new equipment, and when times are good. But you got to have talent to start with just a little and build it. Is'nt that what you're doingIJ You ever step in the ringIJ Maybe not. But any fighter, or any athlete will tell you that when you done gave it all, and then somehow, some way, gave some more, then, hey, man you won. Don't bother to look at no scoreboard, because you won, and you won't ever forget it,and no one person or persons can take that away. Now that's the kind of privelige you can give your children, instead of a car. And you know there's only a few men what can do that. Joe

hey just keep your head up and you'll make it !i want to farm so bad but i cann't afford it around here ground cost too much ! we have old tractors too but if you take good care of them they'll last forever! remember what talk show you are on they do make them last longer then the rest !!!! just take good care of them and they will be there for you ! i help my father farm about 600 acres we just bought a 97 9600 and are looking for a grain truck but it doesn't need to be new just work!he has been in farming all his life worked two other jobs so he could do for us kids that he didn't get for himself! and as far as the prices go we know who makes them what they are when they go hungry they'll figure it out too! bigger farms is not the answer to it because then the cost of food would be even higher !we 'll make it we just have too work together at it ! wish you all well !

Thanks for all the free advice guys. I guess I am just a little dejected with farming because I "gave away" five trailer loads of corn this week. I also found out how much seed and fertilizer are going to cost me this year.