This. I love ag but repeatedly kicking yourself in the nuts and blaming the government gets old. You have a guaranteed buyer for your product. Either deal with it or grow something else. At the end of the day it is a business. I think too many new generations took over farms and just assumed it was their god given right to make loads of cash growing the same crops. We have gotten WAY more productive than ever in history. When there is an excess the price tends to drop...
But, there is not an excess. Hasn't been in years. Speculators got into commodities pricing a few years ago when farmland and crop prices were soaring, and now, there is less crop on the ground than there has been in a few years, we are in the middle of a long drawn out planting season where half the crop hasn't been planted, but yet they knock the crap out of the prices every day?
Brazil had a drought and didn't have the crop they normally had...hmm, but it's the farmers fault for doing all the same things? You know, you guys are right, maybe all farmers should stop producing for a year or two, and then see what you think. Cattle will die, chickens, hogs, turkeys, EVERY protein sources food supply will dry up within a few months...then the people...
You know why farmers are producing at levels never seen before? Because the GLOBAL food economy keeps telling them they need more food. EVERY major OEM has been told that they need to provide more productive and efficient equipment to be able to provide the food the world needs.
Now, is the American farmer spoiled? Absolutely, they can take their grain to a number of different outlets and get a check. However, if you think supply and demand is the sole contributor to grain prices today, you're nuts. Should some farmers diversify, again absolutely, BUT, there is not a market for all commodities everywhere. Certain soils can't grow certain crops, certain climates don't have the seasons for others. The key is farmers finding what works for their market, in their climate, that won't cost them a fortune to switch over to producing.
Now, are farmers too lazy to do that, some of them are. That's a whole other rant, LOL.
Chris