Making money in farming is tough, but not impossible
If you’re in farming for the money . . . it’s gonna be a tough life for ya.
I’ve even heard Charlie Munger say that farmers make money maybe 1 in 20 years.
However, the worst markets provide the best opportunities, and there is a lot of money to be made in farming when you’re really good at it. As this market gets tougher and tougher, people will be selling good stuff for a good price.
I remember listening to Zig Ziglar in college, and Zig always said that in every market there are people making money and people losing money. It's up to you to decide which one you will be.
Here are six ways you can strategically grow your farm—even during the hard times.
1) Employees
Consider the employment levels on your farm. Does it make more sense to hire locally or to go abroad?
I’ve got South Africans on my farm this year for the first time, and the farming economy in South Africa is disastrous right now. So they have a lot of interest in coming over to farm here.
On the other hand, a lot of farmers have laid off their full-time guys, so if you want to pick up a good, experienced full-time guy, you could consider the local market. However, that may be difficult, depending on your area.
Co-ops and seed dealers have brought the cost of labor really high, because they’ve been making tons of money off of the ag boom and really spoiling their employees. I know a guy just out of college selling seed and making $100,000 a year. That’s kind of hard to compete with...