# The Farm Bill ----- again



## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

I got this email today from a reputable fellow. I think they should separate the welfare programs from the Department of Agriculture so we really know where things are going. Sure there are huge subsidies on things like corn for ethanol, but much of the farm bill is liberals giving more to the lazy in exchange for their votes. This backdoor give away really needs to end.



> Policymakers say that the Farm Bill is about helping farms, but this just isn't true.
> 
> In reality, the Farm Bill is a big welfare bill in disguise. The "Farm Bill" label merely allows the ever-growing spending on welfare programs to cause the price tag for the entire package to swell, contributing to our nation's budget woes.
> 
> ...


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## ruger1 (Aug 16, 2006)

Disturbing isn't it. To bad we just cannot get rid of the whole deal. No more welfare or farm subsidies. That would be satisfying and get results.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

Farming is hard work....not nearly as hard as 60 years ago but still hard work.... And I respect most pople who choose to farm.... but the truth is probably 1/2 of them would be out after the first or second year if they had to farm 60 years ago. With all the subsidies and payments available today it is really hard to cull out the poor and inefficient farmers....... and there are plenty of them. It used to be that nature culled the ones that couldn't hack it now, Instead our government keeps making poor investments supporting farms that could and should be self supporting. Farming has reached a point where it can no longer just be a lifestyle.... it has to be a business too.


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## FLOYD (Oct 3, 2003)

So you want to cull out MORE farmers? Interesting perspective, haven't heard that one before I guess.

I don't know, maybe you are from an area with lots of small farmers but in the corn belt, extending even into eastern ND, there are basically no small farmers anymore. With the explosion of everything farm related in the last 10-15 yrs, you either need to get bigger or be left in the dust.

And with things being the way they are, there surely arent going to be any "new" farmers starting from scratch. Makes one wonder what's ahead for the farming world.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

> I think they should separate the welfare programs


Notice I want to separate the farm expenditures from the welfare program. We have a bloated welfare program that one should not confuse with farm expenditures. I think one of the reasons is the liberals can hide their purchase votes from the lazy program and say it is the cost of agriculture. The other thing is farmers have produced a surplus and the food stamp program is a way of eating the surplus. I have not seen any skinny poor people. When in the grocery store the people on food stamps purchase things my wife and I don't think we should spend money on. 
We need everything in the open so we know what we are dealing with. The way it is now it's all smoke and mirrors. Set a limit on the price supports a farmer can have. That would put a stop to the huge corporations. One farm drew 13 million dollars. That's not a small North Dakota farm. I would think most farmers would support something like that. Is there any reason an average farmer should draw three to four times what a man on wages makes? If I could live off a salary of $40,000 why does the government hand out hundreds of thousands to an individual for price support while denying the consumer imported food items? It makes no sense. 
There are things I like about farming, and some things I don't like, but I suppose everyone thinks like that about everything. Nothing is perfect, and no one has been perfect for 2012 years.


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## Buck25 (Mar 27, 2008)

dakotashooter2 said:


> Farming is hard work....not nearly as hard as 60 years ago but still hard work.... And I respect most pople who choose to farm.... but the truth is probably 1/2 of them would be out after the first or second year if they had to farm 60 years ago. With all the subsidies and payments available today it is really hard to cull out the poor and inefficient farmers....... and there are plenty of them. It used to be that nature culled the ones that couldn't hack it now, Instead our government keeps making poor investments supporting farms that could and should be self supporting. Farming has reached a point where it can no longer just be a lifestyle.... it has to be a business too.


Is farming actually hard work? I think that in the SPRING and FALL they work a LOT OF HOURS but i don't see how it is hard work being a farmer compared to many other professions. I know its off subject but just something i always wondered about being someone who has done a lot of construction work.
I respect farmers aswell, heck i would love to be a farmer! I just get tired of all them padding themselves on the back and acting like their profession is more important then everyone else's. Don't mean to steal the thread with a topic that has been brought up im sure a million times! but i guess i did...


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

'Is farming hard work?'
You're kidding right?Please don't enter the realm of the assinine.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

When I was in high school I worked on my grandfather and uncles farm during the summers work was from 7am to 6pm...... on the short days. Of course they had cattle and milk cows so that adds extra work. Sundays were about the only days we didn't put in a full day (cows have to be milked twice a day EVERY day). The order of work was cultivating, seeding, cultivating summer fallow, spraying, haying, hauling grain, cultivating summer fallow, mowing ditches, fixing fence, haying, prep equipment for harvest, harvest,plowing /cultivating, hauling bales, mowing ditches, post season equipment prep. Even Sundays were a mix of work and play as I was charged with pest control... removing gophers from the pastures. It's not always hard physical labor but often it is tedious and mind numbing. I enjoyed the farming I was able to do but am glad I did not choose to do it for the rest of my life.

As far as what I said about culling farmers. As in other jobs there are a certain percent of inefficient farmers/operations. Without farm programs only the most efficent farmers would survive and that would benefit everyone.


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## Buck25 (Mar 27, 2008)

duckp said:


> 'Is farming hard work?'
> You're kidding right?Please don't enter the realm of the assinine.


If your going to throw the word asinine out there you might as well spell it right. I'm not sure where your stance is here? Either you are a farmer so you are saying that it is hard work. Or you are someone else that believes it is not? i honestly don't know.


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

I'm not a farmer but i have eyes and a brain.And I agree,you don't know.


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## Buck25 (Mar 27, 2008)

hah....strictly ag. farmers put in a lot of hours in the spring and fall. Do you understand that their is a difference between 'hard work' and 'working a lot of hours'?

And your right i don't know what your talking about haha. Why don't you try and make a comment that has some information in it instead of simply an insult.


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

Funny. 
Why waste time on nothing.Some voids can't be filled.


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## ruger1 (Aug 16, 2006)

Buck25 said:


> Is farming actually hard work?


yep. About as hard as being a trucker sitting in a truck all day. Or a painter watching paint dry (or corn grow). I would speculate the hardest "work" a farmer may do is filling out his/her crop subsidies paper work. Those gov't forms can be a pain.

I bet shopping for another $300,000 combine is hard work to.

Back in the day I know it was hard work. Today, technology and machinery does majority of the work.


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

Funny.
Ruger does anyone work in Mn?Other than computing taxes due that is. :lol:


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## ruger1 (Aug 16, 2006)

duckp said:


> Funny.
> Ruger does anyone work in Mn?Other than computing taxes due that is. :lol:


You have to work to find the big walleye once in a while. You really have to work to find a duck in MN. I work really hard trying to find legal loop holes for the MN tax law. But you are right. That is about it.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

My relatives that grain farm are busy getting machinery ready in April, planting, then time off until harvest, then off to Arizona. Well when they were still alive that is. The ones that have cattle are stuck all through the winter feeding. However, like ruger1 said it's become mechanized. 
I was working in western North Dakota about 15 years ago. We were on government land, but always let the rancher know who was around his cattle. I remember one fellow south west of Bellfield put out that I come so early in the morning. He was still in his pajamas. It was after 9:00am.


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## takethekids (Oct 13, 2008)

duckp said:


> I'm not a farmer but i have eyes and a brain.And I agree,you don't know.


Guys like this one are the reason I choose to post on other sites. My favorite hunting message board is full of moderators that would tell this guy to shut it or leave! duckp, don't be afraid to appreciate views that differ from your own. That's what drives productive dialog.

My dad is a farmer. It isn't hard work, but he puts in a lot of hours. Working calves is MUCH more labor intensive than row-cropping. The guy he works for has acquired no less than 2 quarters of land each year that I've known him. In the past 5 years or so he's accepted just over a million dollars in subsidies uke: Trust me, the guy doesn't need help. He only uses the subsidy programs to buy up more land. Well, short-term that benefits me b/c I get to hunt his land. Long-term I think this is very, very bad for our country.


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