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- There Will Be Crop Failures :: No matter how much planning you do or how great of a farmer you are, there will be crop failures.
- Be Severely Realistic :: Make sure you are grasping the full reality of what you are getting yourselves into and don’t sugarcoat it at all.
- Recognize the Emotional, Physical, and Financial Risks :: You maybe able to handle a complete loss financially, but that doesn’t mean you can handle it emotionally. Think about that as you make your decisions.
- The Sun Will Come Up Tomorrow :: At the end of the day the truth is that there will be another day coming, so you must be able to shake it off and get on with the business farming.
- Ask Yourself, Was That Really a Failure? :: Sometimes a failure is just a lesson, so don’t forget that.
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You pretty much summed up the way to look at it in your five things to take away list, but here’s just some random thoughts from my point of view:
Whenever I try growing something new or start using a new piece of equipment, unless I’m extremely lucky in the beginning, it almost always takes a couple of years (plus or minus a year or so) before I get everything figured out and running smooth.
The weather this year hammered a lot of people’s crops. My wheat this year was almost the same as your oats, with the rain not coming when it needed to come, a late freeze in April, then too much rain coming when I didn’t need it. Because of all that I had a bunch of weeds in the field at harvest, horrible yields, and low test weights that had me sweating that I might not be able to even sell what I did manage to harvest. But there’s nothing that I could have done to change anything and there’s no need to beat myself up over any of it (even though it really hurts financially).
And, I have a rope on my stock trailer doors that I always double tie to make sure the doors don’t come open because I don’t trust either the latches or any sort of safety chain. The older I get the more I’m a belt and suspenders with some rope tied around my waist for extra insurance sort of guy.
Very good podcast. Did you watch US Farm Report this weekend? In that episode John talked about statistics. Here is the link http://www.agweb.com/USFR/default.aspx
8-22-2015
Ethan, have you considered selling to consumers? You would put in more labor but get more money, I imagine. Rolling the oats or even making them steel cut oats? Don’t know if that’s possible, but listening to the podcast I thought of that!
I sent you an email when I was only part way through this episode. Now that I’ve finished it, I will say that your 5 points are spot on. To be blunt, “that’s farming”. My Dad’s 81 and has been farming his entire life as did his father before him. This year, he had a crop failure. That wasn’t his first and won’t be his last (unless he quits). A failed crop does not equate to a failed farmer. Every enterprise has risk and farming is no exception. I can relate to every feeling/emotion you described, and when you’re in the middle of it you have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees. I’ve listened to most of your podcasts and watched most of your videos and I can say this: you’re not a failure at farming. So, chin up and carry on!
And for what it’s worth, I once lost the entire stock trailer! I didn’t get the hitch properly down on the ball, and when I hit a bump it came right off. Broke those silly little safety chains too. Fortunately, the trailer was empty, but it was in town. I slowed down enough to let the trailer hit the back of the truck. The theory was I could stop it that way. Unfortunately, it slid off to the side and went on it’s merry way until it bumped into a curb. Left a dent in the front of the trailer, but no other vehicles were involved. I was glad it was in town at 30MPH and not on the highway at 65MPH!
Farm on!