Some Minnesota farmers skipping planting season amid rising fuel and fertilizer costs
Posted by Own-Swan2646@reddit | PrepperIntel | View on Reddit | 73 comments
refusemouth@reddit
Sounds like there are some intelligent farmers in Minnesota. It's better to come up short on a few payments than to bet the family farm by borrowing against it in the face of a turbulent and chaotic future.
Extension_Future2942@reddit
Regeneration agriculture people are the way of the future. Cover crop, rotation planting (not just between corn and soy), no till. We need a lot less lawns in this country too. I would love to see a lawn mower sized tractor to plant and harvest neighborhood lawns. One street filled with turnips, next street over filled with pumpkins….
Impossible_Range6953@reddit
land is expensive.
lease terms are unrealistic.
small operations are not profitable.
HOAs are acancer.
The list goes on.
Tradtrade@reddit
Small regenerative operations absolutely can be profitable especially if the industrial crop just doesn’t exist next year
Baron-Munc@reddit
They were likely contributing to the excess food now Americans will be skinny again.
Far_Falcon_6158@reddit
Maybe Regenerative Ag will pick up. It goes back to promoting carbon rich soil and what once was old is now new again. Lots of farmers learned the industrial ways pushed by big fertilizer. Now in the age of less gov incentives and higher fertilizer/fuel costs seems to make common sense.
Maxion@reddit
Regenerative agriculture as a term is currently being take over by the industry just as the term organic was once upon a time. Back in the 1960s and 1970s organic meant the same as regenerative agriculture meant up to around ~2022 or so.
Now regenerative agriculture is just a marketing term and most farms to claim to practice it, only do a pale immitation of what it should be.
WhereDidAllTheSnowGo@reddit
Agree
But it’s a decade(s) long process
Impossible_Range6953@reddit
most of the soils will take a while to recover. Some will need industrial scale mitigation to remove accumulated contaminants (in soil and water).
Nobody has money or time for that. Land is still extremely expensive.
Far_Falcon_6158@reddit
Im not saying market it as organic. Why would they need to remove what you call contaminates if they are already farming on the land? Not arguing with you just dont understand your statement.
Impossible_Range6953@reddit
no at all. It just depends what was planted before. Leftovers like glyphosate and salts will impact next year production. So you kinda have a throw away year where you will try and mitigate soil as much as you can (plant clovers and sunflowers. mayne onions but not for consumption). You might have volunteer growth from prior crops. etc.
Then you have better chances in year 2.
Own-Swan2646@reddit (OP)
Millennial farmer on YouTube was kind of on a kick there for a hot minute on some of this stuff.
TheSensiblePrepper@reddit
I contract out my land to a farmer who grows either corn or soy in rotation.
He said that farmers he knows that are in the rotation that they MUST grow soy this year, so they don't destroy the soil, are skipping planting since most of that traditionally went to China. Because of the events last year, China found other sources that are equal to or cheaper then US product.
If they are in rotation to grow corn, most are planting because the US eats a lot of corn products and the Government is letting ethanol stay in fuel longer this year to stretch it out. So they can make money that way.
compchick813@reddit
The article says that some older farmers are leasing the land, so hopefully someone is planting at least. Either way, this is a bad sign.
Etjdmfssgv23@reddit
Pretty misleading title. Theres always someone who’s gonna farm the land.
Bulky-Captain-3508@reddit
I live in the upper midwest and there are a number of farmers selling their fertilizer and fuel reserves instead of planting. Their operating procedure is to purchase these in the fall when they get paid for their crop. They can sell diesel and fertilizer for a profit that equals what they can make on the cash crops so they are choosing to do that without the labor and equipment wear. It pays for the farm, but nobody gets fed that way...
Also, milk and beef production will be impacted without the feed available. I don't know how much worse it can get?! Calves are already selling for more than we paid 16 months ago for our full beef, AFTER PROCESSING!
Sad-Bonus-9327@reddit
Sounds like a problem for next season /s Some farmers aren't seems to be the brightest candle on the cake that's my impression.
melympia@reddit
Why not? They're just doing what everybody else is: They're maximizing profit.
Sad-Bonus-9327@reddit
Which is short sighted.
melympia@reddit
Yes. But it's not them who will go hungry - they have enough land to at least plant stuff for their own use. And it's also not them paying to keep everybody else fed.
The problem lies somewhere else.
Playful_Possible_379@reddit
Actually they are quite bright. It's the idiots who voted for MAGA leadership that really really are about to hurt the work or many wonderful and dedicated humans who toil to take care of others.
Professional-Gear-32@reddit
Farming-dependent counties rallied behind Trump with an average of nearly 78% support.
Playful_Possible_379@reddit
Some how they thing being Republican is a social statement on responsible behavior etc. But these welfare queens don't realize it's the social movement towards benefits of the world not just them that keeps them fed and funded. (Us aid buya food to give away for example) As such because they are so self righteous and outright just racist. They rather suffer to see others suffer.
Majority of farmers have graduated college and are "land owner wealth" in their communities. But they don't have a rats ass clue how to be actually patriots. They just shoot guns, vote Republican, listed to fix news and get manipulated by anyone willing to buy adds in their favorite media.
I wish national ranked voting was a thing and we could out perform these stupid and evil people and their patrons. But here we are...
V1ld0r_@reddit
No crop this year will leave the fields in a better position for next year. They will also need less fertilizer too.
This isn't terrible by itself, it's the impact for the year that will be a problem. I hope most of the US households is ok to eat canned goods and run stocks to the ground ..
SquirrelyMcNutz@reddit
Eh...unless they put down some form of cover, like clover or wheatgrass or something, they could stand to lose a bunch of topsoil due to wind erosion. Just a barren, empty field doesn't help at all, especially for crop rotation. You need something there to grow, die, and rot away.
V1ld0r_@reddit
You are right but you are also undervalueing spontaneous generation. A field that isn't toiled for a year will still have a lot of stuff growing, including some of the previous year seed and everything else that will be brought by wind and animals.
Aekeron@reddit
This. My uncle a few houses down from us owns a 20+ acre plot of land that he rents to a farmer for cheap so that the farmer profits and keeps the land usable / maintained for us in the long run if we ever needed it.
Diligent_Yam_1753@reddit
It’s just input purchases with a delivery date. In most cases you have an option to delay delivery. The big thing right now is the suppliers are offering to buy those inputs back to cover their own supply where others are calling on delivery dates. Some farms with money over buy knowing they can sell it back. Others are shifting to different varieties or crops based on what they are seeing
ViolettaQueso@reddit
Some are selling family land that been producing food and feed for not just the US but globally adding to GDP since they homesteaded to a fund JD Vance sits in.
Corruption runs so deep these days. It’s erasing family legacies.
Playful_Possible_379@reddit
That's the goal. This was a broad system attack on all critical systems of Americans and we get to see the results of extremist MAGA and the other party being Jack asses with the lives of the world.
Americans used to feed most of the 🌍 now stuff is about to get more chaotic and deplorable.
Valuable_Option7843@reddit
This is similar to the dynamic with European airlines right now selling fuel instead of tickets.
mwpdx86@reddit
Hang on, does that mean we're gonna have to skip eating season? Because I love eating season.
somedumbkid1@reddit
Not unless you eat a steady diet of dent corn and soybeans destined for CAFOs. You'll be fine.
mwpdx86@reddit
what if I eat concentrated animals?
somedumbkid1@reddit
Own a gun and go outside. Animals are heavily concentrated outside.
WolfDragon7721@reddit
You may have to go without a few meals but the dow was over 50,000 and Iran won't have a nuclear weapon.
EpsteinandTrump@reddit
It's like free Ozempic!
NeuroLeak@reddit
thank a Maga!
Own-Swan2646@reddit (OP)
Might have to skip a few sessions. Love it as well but tough times call for tougher measures.
Psychological_Fun172@reddit
They shall Reap what they have Sown, Quod Severis Metis
foundtheseeker@reddit
South Dakota chiming in, no one in my immediate area is skipping the season. It's like the dust bowl out here with the wind and every field getting cultivated
DieselPunkPiranha@reddit
Thhat sounds very dry and not at all healthy or sustainable.
Ever heard of black blizzards? We'll see them again before too long.
foundtheseeker@reddit
Sustainable? That's commie pinko talk in these parts. Can't repeat history if you never learned it! Lol
DieselPunkPiranha@reddit
What can I say? Better red than dead.
Still, I am disappointed than rural communities so easily forgot the Dust Bowl, what lead to it, and how it was ended.
hamiltok7@reddit
Thank your brilliant president Americans! So much winning!
FaustestSobeck@reddit
Smart, skip planting and go straight to harvest. Cut out the middle steps
Fit_Peach-@reddit
Fantastic. We all get to eat our worthless money because farmers can't make a profit.
Special_Library_766@reddit
No problem. TrumpJesus©️ will turn start churning out loaves and fishes. /s
heloguy1234@reddit
I quit drinking over a decade ago but I’m starting to feel like I’d be more interested in the water to wine.
SquirrelyMcNutz@reddit
Turning water to wine is easy. You just add grapes, yeast, and time.
Now, turning wine into water, that's the real skill.
HomoExtinctisus@reddit
I do it like this: Consume the wine, piss in the pool, now the water level is raised.
Special_Library_766@reddit
🤣👏🏼👏🏼 Same, actually (12 yrs this year if I can get through this dystopian nightmare). We should get extra points or something, no? 🤔
heloguy1234@reddit
We already got em. Staying out of the bar since 2014 is the reason I’ll be retiring at 56.
Special_Library_766@reddit
That's the way. ✊🏼
BadAsBroccoli@reddit
It's already lobster and crab legs if you are willing to die for it.
Friendlyfire2996@reddit
They got what they voted for. Fuck em
Bastilleinstructor@reddit
While I get the sentiment, everyone, including those of us who didnt vote for him also have to eat.
Friendlyfire2996@reddit
We’re all going to eat what the corporations sell us to eat. They’re buying up all the farms these guys voted themselves out of.
Bastilleinstructor@reddit
You arent wrong. Its terrifying.
BadAsBroccoli@reddit
John Deer is a big deal. They will be calling the politicians whose hands they grease if profits start to drop.
CouldBeLessDepressed@reddit
It will be interesting to see which big corporations get left out in the cold while everything goes to shit.
ViolettaQueso@reddit
Add in the drought in many farm states and it’s the trifecta of no food for U(S).
Hairbear2176@reddit
It's taken a few years, but the farmers and ranchers in my area are starting to squirm with the drought conditions. Add in the fact that they have only planted corn and soy beans for the past 15+ years with zero crop rotation, which dramatically increases need for fertilizer, while they won't openly admit it, they are nervous as fuck. Oh, and add in the uncertainty about subsidies, their little buttholes are puckering.
ViolettaQueso@reddit
But, but, the data centers…
Ugh it’s so awful.
ArbysLunch@reddit
Good thing there's still plenty left over from last year that China never bought.
ViolettaQueso@reddit
Mmmmmmmmm fermented soybeans!!!
ArbysLunch@reddit
Don't forget the HFCS.
ViolettaQueso@reddit
Get me a newly minted super expensive plastic straw!
Too bad we burned all the RUTF we never sent to starving people when we gutted USAID during DOGE and couldn’t even pay to ship or store it…
iamthelee@reddit
Is this what winning feels like?
Own-Swan2646@reddit (OP)
If it is, I don't like winning.
Mechbear2000@reddit
Awesome, i am sure they are so happy they voted for their own destruction. Yea!
grummanae@reddit
Some are and will
Some older farmers that are landowners are going to be retiring are scaling back as well
mystery_biscotti@reddit
Oof. I lived in southern Minnesota for...lets call it "too long". Corn and soybeans, some wheat--every year we would watch the crops along the freeway grow as we drive to visit my grandparents. I remember "once in a century" floods coming every few years around the time I moved West.
(Note to self: stock up on vegetable oil alternatives.)