Season 04 Episode 009 - The Economic Ups and Downs of being a Farmer in 2024 with Farmer Chris!

[@farmerchris1]

Just watched this myself, Summary!, yes millions of dollars moving in AND out of the average farmers hands, at the end of the day just hoping we got enough to feed the family and enjoy a simple life. Many unknowns and variables can change this in a matter of minutes,competition, government, and mainly Mother Nature. Next statement may not cover all farmers but fully covers our operation, at the end of the day we Thank God and leave it in his hands!! Many nights are spent on my knees praying that he guides us in the right direction gives us the right weather to grow a crop, raise a newborn calf, better a community, and raise a family.❤

[@fordlav]

Thank you for all of this as a farmer it does help open lots of eyes.

[@erniehill4357]

Well said sir!!! The size of your fields are nuts, I can’t imagine the headache you face just moving equipment in and out. I live in east central Mississippi and have quite a few friends that are row crop farmers and some just live stock, some are both. The American farmer and so many other blue collar jobs are the backbone to our great nation. Most of the row crop fields in our area are on average 200 acres plus, if I had to bet. Just can’t imagine you having to get in and out of small blocks of land like that. Anyway enjoyed the video very informative. Best of luck to you, DP and the gang. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@americanpatriot2.06]

And to think that about 1.5% of the population is farming to provide for the entire country!

[@markpashia7067]

Chris, it would be a whole other ballgame if you had inherited those acres paid for free and clear. Rent is most certainly a huge input. Thanks for what you do. The guys I worked for as a kid in the sixties were fourth generation and did not have a mortgage on anything. Somehow their families held on to everything through the great depression and they were very frugal. Yet no matter what they were at the mercy of mother nature. Their biggest issue was being on bottom flood plain along the Missouri River back then. Floods were a double edge sword with crop damage but also silt renewing the soil and needing less inputs to modify the fields.

[@jimholty2274]

Chris you did a great job explaining how farming works. I'm 61 and have been farming since I was 16 and I still love it. I sleep well knowing my Lord Jesus is in control and guides me. I also saw you in the background of Reese Ivers video today at precision planting conference, wondering if you know each other?

[@tristardiggin]

Wow, very eye opening on the strategy and planning that is involved in a large farming operation…😳

[@jasonrowe268]

Chris has the best explanation with the kids coming home to the farm that I’d heard, the ‘pecking order’. Seen so many come home and try to strut their stuff with the long term paid employees ( many who showed them how to do things) to piss them off so much they leave. The father is left wondering what has happened when his employees decide to leave. Your right, the kids need to work for a boss, learn responsibility and punctuality

[@dansbrown1313]

Where I grew up, everyone loved the farmers. We were hired to work baling hay in the summer and that's where people went to buy a turkey for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Thanks Chris for what you do.

[@tribeof2035]

Mike, your host Chris does a lot for this podcast. Understanding the business acumen needed for farming is refreshing. The fact that he’s talking about the futures and options markets is even better. Now you will all know why our elected officials want to regulate Bitcoin. The federal reserve is our enemy.

[@justinmills8084]

The best point is when Chris said, raising kids in the farming lifestyle. I know I had great opportunities being raised on a farm. My family growing up we raised and butchered 90% of what we eat.

[@mikemassey1405]

So very interesting , was in the grain business in the mid eightys.❤

[@brucehuff5566]

I really enjoy the podcasts. Conversations with Chris helps put an understanding to the overall scope of farming. Thanks guys. Stay safe

[@OregonBob1955]

Very informative video. Thanks for sharing.

[@LIFEISHARDSTUPID]

For those 5 farmers that deleted themselves , my condolences to you #FarmerChris , the family, friends and loved ones of those fallen brothers. So sad and the machine dgaf about us as long as we keep the fires 🔥 going😪😪😪

[@billbyrnes9505]

My father in law had a bumper sticker on his old pickup. " Don't cuss a farmer with your mouth full. " His dad had a hundred acres or so, and as a kid, helping his dad, they plowed with hoarses. Later, after his dad passed, they sold the farm in lots. He, and his son had bought some of it, and he then turned to dairy part of farming. More of a hobby farm, but still. A very wise man, as most farmers are. Thanks for the pod cast. And say hey to Pete y'all. You know he's watching. Thanks Mike.

[@tomnugent845]

Hey Chris, great podcast. Here are a few of my observations about farming. Yield has more to do with profit than price therefore anything that improves yield - fertility, drain tile, proper seed , etc. is very important. There is a very high barrier to starting farming from scratch. If it was easy, more would be doing it.

[@chrisbarr1359]

This podcast was really interesting and very informative!! I've always respected the farmers' desire to continue a family tradition despite the challenges they face. Glad Farmer Chris is doing well.

[@rugerfarming5387]

I love Watching Farmer Chris on these podcast. I love his real world talk. Nice job fellas.

[@LifeWithButch]

Hats off to ALL farmers. I can’t even imagine the stress they have on a year to year basis. Thank you farmers!

[@christianhowey3816]

I always like listening to Farmer Chris. Probably the most effective person educating to the common person. Keep up the great work to all of you

[@justinmills8084]

FYI. I am a hobby beekeeper in Utah. I feel great when I average 50 lbs of honey a hive. South Dakota average is 200 lbs a hive.

[@raymondheckard234]

Mike I know what it takes to grow a crop, every time we drove by a hog confinement building, we would say that is the smell of money of a farmer going broke. I grew up on a farm in Iowa, and my grandfather lost his farm to the bank in the late 1980’s, and most of the farmers I knew all went bankrupt. In Iowa in the 1980’s we grew 200 bu of corn and 35 to 50 bu of soy, and many of the field I worked are now housing additions, or as with one field, a school. So many good farmers have lost all to the banks. Farmer Chris I knows the horror stories.

[@justinmills8084]

Chris is a wealth of knowledge in the aga industry.

[@michaeladams8532]

Your pod cast are so informative. And fun Chris is a treat

[@afewpointsfromperfect]

Thanks

[@kevinmurray7135]

Very cool DP,Chris and the other Man cause people just don’t know what it takes and i think you guys nailed a lot of what really goes on to do what you all do 👍😎🇺🇸 NY

[@genesiedenburg9798]

Very interesting, so much pressure in farming,👍🇺🇲

[@jburk8600]

Always enjoy these podcasts.

[@adamf9000]

I know farmer Chris has said in the past he’s part of the fire company out there. I’d love to hear is take on that.

[@daviddziegielewski653]

Having coffee early Sunday with the guys.

[@billmurray8739]

love the show and be happy

[@cyndikarp3368]

Thanks for sharing with us.

[@pattucker612]

Thank you that podcast was very interesting.

[@michaelfordyce7292]

Super interesting, thanks to farmer Chris for the information. Questions (podcast ideas) Chris mentioned that new tech has made it so he only uses fertilizer where its needed saving money and lessening runoff into the river. Would it not be a good place for the gov to incentivize farmers to invest in that tech? What percentage of farmers already use that tech and is it something that is talked about in his meetings? Related to that what Chris thinks about regenerative farming vs others methods? Just a carpenter myself and know nothing but I really enjoy listening to Chris talk on Farming.

[@jennyoreilly5980]

Thanks for the podcast boys.

[@davestuart6593]

Great podcast

[@markpashia7067]

I got to say, I do meet a few farmers on the beach in Florida every January. But the ones I meet are not raising livestock. Once the cover crop is on, they want warm weather. Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois come to mind. Of course they also have a later planting date that far north. They either have a huge RV in a park or they Air B and B for a month.

[@jeremiahchmielowiec2696]

It is really interesting to see Chris side of the story.

[@billbyrnes9505]

Chris does a lot of flying, do we see a company jet, and maybe a helicopter in his future? 😁

[@shirleyc7175]

Good info 👍

[@rickhay9782]

Chris, is Cole the Cornstar right on track with most farmers, or is he way ahead of the average farmer with how detailed he is checking his dirt, and planter detailed inspection during planting...

[@bump6469]

Very good podcast most people I watch on KZbin is farmers and I’m in the construction I watch DP and tri star but I’m very interested in how farms go. By the way I believe I saw farmer Chris in Ivers farms KZbin today Reese Ivers was at the precision planting conference this past week. Anyways keep up the awesome job

[@farmerchris1]

Just went and checked out Ivers Farms video, and that was me in the background, you got a pretty good eye to pick me out on a random video!

[@richardellis3141]

good show

[@joycefuller9177]

Good video

Morning Mr DP Mr Chris and Jason cold and wet in Scotland you had snow yet 😊

[@shirleyc7175]

Just wondering,I am a short time listener so others may know this answer Does farmer Chris have children to help or take over the farm or they are the end of this farm?

[@afewpointsfromperfect]

2nd generation with his brother

[@danrossell6375]

You’re talking high sums of money for the profit from the yields. Subtract for the inputs, also a high cost, leaves a lot less actual money left at the end of the day. Vast sums of money pass through a farm. The important thing to the farmer is what stays.

[@johnunsicker7440]

Not, really it that there families are feed and have a little money to do things with .

[@MrDaniel3105]

I didn't know that much stress when into farming

[@Jake53]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🇺🇸

[@bradf1467]

It would be nice if there was some constructive dialogue about the players in Washington who best help the farmers.

[@bobbrinkerhoff3592]

Considering the hypothetical numbers of return on investment per acre , it's almost enough to make you wonder if the Amish aren't smarter than everyone thinks . Face it , he might have a dozen big draft horses pulling his plow in the Spring , but he's using those same horses in the Fall to bring in his crop . Where as you're using a big green and yellow tractor to plow and a big green and yellow combine to harvest . Who is more cost effective here ?

[@markpashia7067]

That Amish farmer is not buying GMO seed either so Monsanto is not taking a huge cut of his income. They also cut out the banker and his cut of the income. Really a whole other proposition all together.

[@joshuacraigr420j]

Def a 100 per cent deal you made how much oh wait yeah it only cost me this much to make that much. Ouch

[@raymondheckard234]

The problem is modern farming practices of mono cropping and dual cropping rotation is actually taking more chemicals and fertilizer to grow the same amount of crop yield as it Did 10 years ago or even 20 years ago. The extensive use chemicals and fertilizers are actually killing the soil and has the soil to become sterile of life microbial and insect life (Worms). There was a time farmers farmed soil as well as a crop for market. In soil farming they was doing crop rotation growing crops that ad to the soil and that one’s not just just take from it. The farmers at one time would go out in to the field and dig down and look at the life in the soil, (earthworms). Today if you go into a field anywhere in the USA where they do dual crop rotation, and dig down the soil is dead void of life. This year Cole Langenbau of Cole the Corn star got an awakening, when I started watching his channel he was talking about how no till farming was the only way to farm, while he and his family do dual crop farming. This past year he was doing some testing on planting of a field where he grew intermixed crops with different number of rows, his corn yield was record on the number of rows in a plot, 12 rows of corn then 12 rows of soybeans . But the awakening that came was the crop yield went up in a part of the field where the soil was disturbed and turned over, where they had massive earth work. Cole Langenbau is doing another test, and on the family farm for the first time in years is a mole board plow, and for the first time in many years the land had been put under the plow. No till farming works in organic farming where the soil is rich in life insect and microbial where they are growing 7 to 10 year crop rotation where no crop is grown more than once in the period except or hay or alfalfa, and their soil is is being built up, and the soils is loose. I look forward to seeing the results of Cole Langenbau test in which the soil is plowed.

[@farmerchris1]

Ok, several points made here, modern farming with chemicals and fertilizers with end results, if we went back to using farming methods, rates, and technology from the 80’s where a 100 bu corn crop was good we would see a explosion in world hunger today. Intercropping as Cole did with rotating rows of corn and beans sees a yield bump from mainly sunlight intervention, a corn crop harvest sun to make a crop and having 6 rows of corn and 6 rows of beans allows more sunlight to penetrate that corn crop which drives yield up. Tillage, 2 things, in our area with highly erodible ground, if we went back to mowboard plowing with today’s rainfall we would see extreme erosion problems putting more soil in the water system. Yes I agree I think tillage we yield more but is extra yield enough to offset tillage expenses?, 2nd thing with tillage is in today’s environment everyone is looking at carbon credits and global warming, if we can burn less fuel to produce a crop it opens up a carbon credit market for us and gives agriculture more environmentally friendly front, if we continue with the public looking at our environment negatives we may see more lab grown food which I sure don’t want on my table.

[@raymondheckard234]

@@farmerchris1 you missed the elephant in the room, while focusing on the mouse. in Germany and other EU countries they are banning many chemicals the american farmers use, and the fact is the focus is on Mono Cropping and dual crop rotation is destroying the topsoil and striping the fertility out of the soil, which has to be replace with ever increasing chemicals, to the point these chemicals are depositing salt int he soil, and eventually all the chemicals in the world wont restore fertility. My grandfather complained that every time he wanted to go fishing , we had to go into town to dig earthworm to fish with, or go to the back of the field in the corner where there was part of the field that had not been farmed since he got a tractor, and retired his plow horses, because of a county drainage ditch he was not allowed to bridge. The area had no trees because the railroad would burn off their right away and this are would burn over. In Germany they are soil farming to build the top soil, growing crops that build the soil so they can get a crop that takes from the soil once ever 5 to 8 years based on the rotation pattern. These field are teaming with life, and the soil is rich and dark, and in 20 years 1.5 inches of topsoil has been built, and the crop yield is improving, and are to the point the yield is no different than it was 20 years ago when chemicals was used on the field, and these field grow crops without chemicals or commercial fertilizer. the farm Mike bought will be your best field this year because the soil has laid fallow for 30 years and has recovered from the damage of the modern farming practices. I grew up on a small family farm that we grew corn and soy, and we used older equipment and I remember the long hours of plowing and Discing as well as the long hours in the summer walking beans to remove weeds and volunteer corn. I also listened to my Grandfather complain every year about how much fertilizer and chemicals that was required to grow a crop and he pulled out his records for the 1950's and 1960's and showed the differenced from the 1970's and 1980's, and he complained that that it took more chemicals to produced the same crop yield as he got in 1960. The field we farmed peaked out at 220 to 230 BU an acre on corn, and today the very same fields today the yield is no different, but the chemicals usage has increased even more, as my cousin is farming the land along with another 5000 central farm land. DW has done documentaries on soil farming and on the dangers of modern farming , and the biggest problem is the build up of salts and heavy metals from fertilizers and chemicals, that leads to the loss of soil fertility. In the DW documentary one thing was very clear is the fertility of the soil is collapsing under the moder monoculture farming practice and the use of inorganic salts in the fertilizers and chemicals used to maintain the fertility, and the sterilization of the soil, in the loss of organic life in the soil, Microbial and insect life. You talked about the coop taking soil samples every 2 acres to measure the nutrients in the soil, the one thing they never test for is the salinity of the soil from the organic and inorganic salts from the fertilizers and chemicals. The shocking part was DW pointed out that the USDA and european agriculture ministers are warning in100 years most all the current farmland will no longer be fertile, because of the modern farming, that the soil in the last 80 years has lost half of it fertility. For this reason Germany and other EU countries are promoting soil farming and the move away from the monoculture farming. As an american living in the EU and before that Ukraine. I was shocked to see how much crop rotation is being done. Crops i have seen grown is corn, Soy, Sugar beats, Sunflower, Rape seed, Buckwheat, wheat, Oats, Rye, Milo, Alfalfa, and never the same crop in the same field with in a 6 year period. I am talking about field that are 700 to 1000 acres in size.

[@raymondheckard234]

@@farmerchris1 you are missing the elephant in the room focusing on the mouse. the commercial fertilizers and chemicals are mostly based on inorganic salts and organic salts as well as heavy metals, and these cause the soil to lose its fertility over time, in the last 70 years it is estimated that the the farmland in the USA and in europe is 50% less fertile than it was in the late 1940 to early 1950's before the extensive usage of monocropping. dig down in a field in 3 ft by 3ft area, how many earthworms to your find, go to a piece of ground that has not been farmed or has been taken out of production for several decade and a earthworm survey and you will find a big difference. The EU had banned many of the chemical that american farmers are using, and actual have project to build the soil by soil farming, in which no chemicals are used and they are relying on crop rotation of many different crops that build the soil and add to the soil, not taking from it, and the outcome is they are able to grow one crop in 7 years that takes from the soil. In these fields in 20 years they have added over 1.5 inches of new top soil to the field, and in that soil it is teaming with life, and in a 3ft by 3ft area, they are finding many earthworms upwards of 50 to 100 or more. DW has documentaries on this and as it has been stated if we don't build up our soil, no matter how much chemicals you add to the soil, it will lose fertility and nothing will grow. In the documentary they stated in the next 70 to 100 years most of the farmland in the usa and the EU will be infertile, not able to support a crop, if we stay on the path of monocropping. The USDA has warned that in the Soil Quality Thunder Book, in a sugar coated way, and they call for a multi crop rotation to support good soil health. the next time you have your soil tested, have it tested for the levels of organic and inorganic salts, you be surprised at what you find, it is a hidden danger.

[@jeffwilson1029]

Those farmers with the shinny new trucks and equipment is into debt that they will never get out from under

[@NotmeGK123]

Yeah farming has went crazy big business now back in 80’s dad built milk barn and made ok’ish living until late 90’s when feed was more expensive than milk was getting so quit that and went to beef cows can’t win business sees way too make money and screws it all up!!!!!

[@maggiebloom833]

People do not understand agriculture. Water shortage? Cut the water to the farmer so some movie star can have nice lawns. No clue. Especially in California where ag is the biggest industry.

[@brimanco]

I don't know what u guys changed in the sound but its terrible! Go back and listen to previous episodes & u will hear it. Enjoy the content

[@windzer]

last weeks video was messed up but this ones fine idk what your hearing

[@brimanco]

@windzer I am listening to it with ear buds. Dirt Perfect always has good sound quality! It must be Jason's fault! Especially when he talks

[@windzer]

@@brimancolol well it's a shop not a studio I don't expect perfect and it seems using lavalier microphones are easier to setup than the boom mics

[@1TEDSong]

Not everyone knows your guests. Please have an introduction at the beginning.

[@afewpointsfromperfect]

There is no guest on this podcast me and the other two host sorry

[@jasonrowe268]

I’ve been thinking for awhile u need to introduce everyone by name. This is the only vid podcast I’ve watched, the rest was in the car. Yourself, Chris, nyam, and wade I can identify their voice from videos I’ve watched, the others not so much.

[@thomasleonard1846]

You did not factor in livestock!

[@johnunsicker7440]

Not all farmers have livestock. They were just doing a simple farmer.

[@thomasleonard1846]

@@johnunsicker7440 They we’re using Chris’s farms as example!

[@user-kr9mh5oi1q]

are you speaking ill of bidenomics? The greatest plan to save our country that was ever laid on paper. Yea and I can spell sarcasm too LOL

[@orschellexcavating5810]

FJB

[@corysergerson2105]

Thanks for posting this great content!