Modern day 40 acres and a mule?

#77
#77
Rasputin_Vol said:
Well, before we get ahead of ourselves for a minute, I saw a documentary about this. A lot of these farmers were denied equal access to USDA loans or other assistance and several families ended up losing a lot of land over time as a result. I know the gut instinct is to shoot down govt handouts and reparations, but in a situation like this where you have farmers who want the land and plan on using it productively, I think there should be some provisions made, within reason.
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How do you keep farms in the hands of individual farmers and away from ADM and ConAgra and the like? When do farmers become farmers again rather than tenants of corporations? How do real US farmers deal with being undercut by treaties like NAFTA? Perhaps the biggest challenge - and most of it may be too late to repair is the problem with family farms and inheritance. One issue is the value of the land if one or more of the family choose not to farm it - too expensive for the others to buy - exacerbated by inheritance taxes - the idiotic practice of taxing someone for inheriting land when the value of the land isn't so much the land as what effort can make the land produce. The other is that as larger family farms are subdivided by inheritance they fall below the critical mass necessary to be financially viable. None of this is or is about black and white.
 
#78
#78
AM64 said:
How do you keep farms in the hands of individual farmers and away from ADM and ConAgra and the like? When do farmers become farmers again rather than tenants of corporations? How do real US farmers deal with being undercut by treaties like NAFTA? Perhaps the biggest challenge - and most of it may be too late to repair is the problem with family farms and inheritance. One issue is the value of the land if one or more of the family choose not to farm it - too expensive for the others to buy - exacerbated by inheritance taxes - the idiotic practice of taxing someone for inheriting land when the value of the land isn't so much the land as what effort can make the land produce. The other is that as larger family farms are subdivided by inheritance they fall below the critical mass necessary to be financially viable. None of this is or is about black and white.
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Farmers/large landowners in general that don't prepare for the inevitable screw their heirs.

Farmers are also their own worst enemies and I don't care if they are crop, beef or dairy they all do the same. Prices are up so they expand herds, plant more acerage. Prices go down so they expand herds, plant more acreage trying to maintain income.
 
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#79
#79
hog88 said:
Farmers/large landowners in general that don't prepare for the inevitable screw their heirs.

Farmers are also their own worst enemies and I don't care if they are crop, beef or dairy they all do the same. Prices are up so they expand herds, plant more acerage. Prices go down so they expand herds, plant more acreage trying to maintain income.
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In East Tennessee the small farmer is gone, they have become hay fields until they become subdivisions.
 
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#83
#83
Fun coupon VOL said:
They will sell the land and move to the suburbs. No I’m not talking about black people. I’m talking about the people(all races) who received land through inheritances, where generations of family owned the property and broke their backs working it.

The individuals who receive the land won’t have the money to purchase the equipment it takes to run 160 acres. I foresee a loan program with this. Just noticed this would go to farmers already.

All to common in today’s society where people don’t have the work ethic to keep a farm going, nor the respect for the individuals who took pride in it before them. Just look at the farms around Nashville. People selling out to make a quick buck and ruining the land.

Soap box speech over.
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My grandparents' farm was about 35 miles SW of Kansas City. I never really knew the exact acreage, but it seemed larger than my granddad could manage and smaller than necessary to really be profitable. As far as I can tell, the land there is going the same way as around Nashville, all about "estates" and nothing about farming. In fact, the road running by the farm was called something like 255th St - with the numbers apparently originating in KC (bizarre logic, but then it's Kansas). I agree with you; there's no respect for the land. I can't even imagine how you might take a real working farm and turn it over to a novice and make it profitable - even if the equipment went with it. Better to find sons and daughters of real farmers and make this kind of deal to them if it ever has a chance of working. This is nothing more than another "brilliant" sounding dumb government boondoggle.
 
#84
#84
AM64 said:
My grandparents' farm was about 35 miles SW of Kansas City. I never really knew the exact acreage, but it seemed larger than my granddad could manage and smaller than necessary to really be profitable. As far as I can tell, the land there is going the same way as around Nashville, all about "estates" and nothing about farming. In fact, the road running by the farm was called something like 255th St - with the numbers apparently originating in KC (bizarre logic, but then it's Kansas). I agree with you; there's no respect for the land. I can't even imagine how you might take a real working farm and turn it over to a novice and make it profitable - even if the equipment went with it. Better to find sons and daughters of real farmers and make this kind of deal to them if it ever has a chance of working. This is nothing more than another "brilliant" sounding dumb government boondoggle.
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I lived down the road from an approximately 200 acre farm that had an old house, barn, trees and was just a beautiful place. The old owners died, the kids sold it off for probably more money than I made in my lifetime and now it's a road, multi building apartments and a couple of subdivisions. What used to be an old house and entrance to their property is an intersection with traffic lights. I need to move.
 
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#85
#85
LouderVol said:
They would have stayed on the farms? The move to urban is not uniquely a black situation or one relegated to this country.
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A hit 1918 song was "How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down On The Farm? (After They’ve Seen Paree)". My dad joined the military to get off the farm.
 
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#86
#86
From what I've gathered the land would be acquired by the USDA via purchase and seems to be aimed at people with knowledge or training in farming. So I guess family farm to hayfield to USDA to black farmer as compensation for racist mobs in the 20s that drove black people from their original land. I'd be happy if the usda is willing to offer the same support to black farmers that historically has only been available to white ones (if it's not already corrected these practices).
 
#87
#87
Can I get 40 acres for a record label with some guns, weed, and b****es thrown in?
 
#88
#88
VolStrom said:
In East Tennessee the small farmer is gone, they have become hay fields until they become subdivisions.
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They are going the way of about all small businesses. Plus, most small farmers that I know are not business people. Also, they are not connected businesswise in a way to wield any power. They are just a bunch of individuals, and independent to a fault.
 
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#89
#89
I foresee my little brother getting out of the dairy business when our dad passes, he might expand the beef herd and try that for awhile. In the end I think he'll be the last generation of our family to work that land. His portion will probably be parceled off within the next 15 years.
 
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#90
#90
hog88 said:
I foresee my little brother getting out of the dairy business when our dad passes, he might expand the beef herd and try that for awhile. In the end I think he'll be the last generation of our family to work that land. His portion will probably be parceled off within the next 15 years.
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My dad's uncle took over the family dairy farm and he ran it until his son took it over and now it's just hay and corn fields. It's sad to see an era die.
 
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#93
#93
Lol. Thought I smelled Ktown.

Or one of you guys might have stepped in something on the way in...

Good points by many folks in this thread. Amazing how ideas can be productively shared and sharpened when there aren't trolls in here making trouble or screaming Trump/racist every other post .
 
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#95
#95
Y9 Vol said:
Someone like you, dumb enough not to get paid up front.[/QUOTE. Not quite there junior. No contractor I know gets paid up front. Only after they sign an agreement and have done the work to my satisfaction. If somebody wants to get paid up front, that’s a sure sign of a scam. Trump on the other hand signs contracts and then routinely reneges. Something he is quite well known for. He’s just a fabulous human being.
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#99
#99
Septic said:
Good point, additionally before folks get bent too out of shape we should ponder how the cost of this would equate to the handouts the farmers got due to the tarrif fiasco.
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On top of the handouts they have been getting for years
 
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