Land Prices Hurt Most Farmers

Morning Edition looks at how high land prices hurt young people trying to get into farming:

In farm country, business is still booming. Commodity prices remain high, and investors are funneling millions of dollars into buying farmland, making it quite enticing for the would-be farmer who wants to leave the rat race.
But surprisingly, these factors make it that much harder for the next generation of farmers to secure the financing they need to get on the tractor.

The article points out that unless a person is very wealthy, or inherits land, it is darn near impossible for farmers to buy enough land to farm.  There is the lottery option, but besides that, a farmer might be able to purchase maybe 10% of the land he or she farms.  With investors pouring into the market, and expecting market-topping returns, that becomes even harder.  If somebody times the market right, they can do ok.  But they have to buy land when nobody else wants it, and sell when everybody thinks the person is a fool for selling.

One interesting part of the story is that farmers talk about sharing equipment to lower costs.  In the old days, that was really common.  A threshing machine would be shared by a number of neighbors who would all provide labor for each other to bring in the harvest.  In the modern era, that hasn't been the case, but my dad pioneered that thinking.  He eventually worked out a sharing arrangement with one of our neighbors.  It was beneficial for each of us, but it did bring about some challenges.  In such a situation, patience is a virtue.  It worked pretty well for everybody until the neighbor retired.  Now we are on our own again.