Wrong kind of farming. That's a commoditized, throat-cut-competitive business if you're out there buying sprayers. You want to get into high margin farming, the barriers are quite low. Minimal machinery, modest land size. The highest barrier for most will be the willingness to do some pretty physical work, and the willingness to sell your stuff mano a mano.
Subsidies - Average farmer wants them gone. The top 10% largest farms (corporate) get 70% of the subsidies. Believe it or not the bulk of the rest goes to support welfare. Yes, I said welfare. Subsidies are for the benefit of those that don't need it. New Zealand eliminated subsidies 15 - 20 years ago. Immediately there were riots in the streets. Ten years after the subsidies went away New Zealand was producing the best "meat" products in the world. Why? They learned to grow better more nutritious grasses to feed the animals because they could no longer afford to feed them grain. They learned the grasses gave them a better quality of meat in their animals. They now import ZERO meat products they produce. They export 75% of what they produce and their farmers are HAPPY and PROFITABLE. This is what will happen if they go away but it will take time. The CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) land exemptions are, for the most part, suppose to be unusable land. This is land that maybe floods each year, drainage is poor, no irrigation available & highly erodible soil. Now some of this land can be reclaimed. This land had to be row cropped for at least 3 years prior to it going into CRP so it isn't worthless. Ask an efficient farmer and he will tell you this is another worthless government program. Government should stay out of farming . . . period!
It's a lucky coincidence that this happened at the time Chinese economy got liberalized, which sparked unprecedented growth. As a result New Zealand farmers enjoyed a new huge export market for milk products. To make it better New Zealand farmers enjoyed competitive advantage. In 1990 after Tiananmen Square crackdown New Zealand was one of the few countries that didn't introduce sanctions against China. As a gift of gratitude, till a few years ago, New Zealand farmers enjoyed tax free exports to China. Another interesting observation is that, unlike the US, the overwhelming majority of New Zealand farms are family owned. In fact, the world's largest dairy products exporter Fonterra (the owner of the Anchor butter brand) is a cooperative set up by individual farmers. (Also check out a story about New-Zealand farmers using genetically modified food to feed cows.)
Lee, Thanks for the heads up. I was there almost 4 years ago and visited a number of the family farms not the corporate houses. They all fed grasses no grain. I'm sorry to hear they didn't learn their lesson and are falling back to their bad habits. The only reason they would go back to grain is the maturation rate of the animal. Sad state of affairs. Tax free was a benefit but the quality of their meats were outstanding. If they are moving back to GMO grains . . . screw em. Back to the original statement . . . subsidies aren't needed any longer. PERIOD!
Grass is where it's at. Where I live in Indiana you can destroy the land and in just a few short years it will return to where it was before you destroyed it. But just a few miles west of here, you take out the buffalo and plow and grow corn and it is darn near impossible to restore the prarie. That's the project I worked on at Indiana University and we had many attempts but darn few wins. Thinking people today eat much less beef and lamb, but when they do they will pay ANYTHING for it if it is raised without being injected and fed GMO grain. I hear they still have some grass in England and Argentina, don't know about New Zealand. But it is a prescious commodity and hard to restore once you destroy it.
============== Mr Jim Rogers mabe short Citicorp; long farm land , gold..., he is known for investments like that. Thanks for the movie, watched part of it; have read some of those books on thier recommended reading list. Have not had time to read the one about agriculture helping cause ''global warming'' .LOL To local retired farmers @ Church, God bless them, mentioned CRP land [idle farmland ] bringing $50 & 75$ per acre/+ rent .