ATV Florida Forum

Take a looked at this news report
i found off yahoo news today.

 :)
Ps: I'm glad i did plant a garden this year i have a home made
greenhouse i just set it up last weekend.Good thing i did that in just in time. 8)


Here's what news said:

Farmer Incomes to Drop After Record Years By LIBBY QUAID, AP Food and Farm Writer
Fri Feb 10, 5:27 PM ET
 


WASHINGTON - Farmers will see their incomes plunge in 2006 coming off two years of unusually high prices and record crops, the Agriculture Department said Friday.

 
Rising energy costs and interest rates are gobbling up the bottom line for farmers, analysts said.

That's old news to Illinois grain farmer Brian Sharp, who saw fuel costs shoot up 35 percent last year. Sharp is planning to cut back on fertilizer and is mulling a switch to cheaper no-till farming.

"To return to a level of decent profit, we're going to have to make some considerable changes on our farm," said Sharp, who heads the Illinois Farmers Union.

On average, net income for a farmer should be $48,600 in this year, down from $68,300 last year, according to forecasts from the department. The average was $52,500 from 2000 through 2005.

Sharp said farmers are worried about     President Bush's new budget plan, which would shave payments to farmers by 5 percent and lower the cap on payments. Congress rejected the cuts last year, and key lawmakers insist they haven't changed their minds.

"It will be a scary, scary situation out here if they do back off those payments," Sharp said. "If they go and yank the safety net out from underneath us, we're going to lose a lot of producers."

The squeeze on farmers is having little impact in supermarkets.

Consumer food prices are rising slower than the general inflation rate, the department said. Grocery shoppers don't feeling the brunt of higher fuel costs because the food industry is intensely competitive, has low profit margins and spends less on other materials used to make food.

Department analysts made their projections assuming that weather will be normal and crop yields will be average, which could change.

The past two years saw record-breaking crops as well as high prices for cattle and hogs. Nationwide, net farm income was $72.6 billion last year and $82.5 billion in 2004.

After this year's drop, farm income should remain steady, the department said. Net income should total $56.6 billion this year and should average $54 billion a year over the next decade, compared with $48 billion in the 1990s, the department said.

The department predicts crop prices will rise as farm exports gain ground. Still, the U.S. continues to be a big importer because of the American appetite for foreign food.

Figures released separately Friday by the     Commerce Department show the trade surplus in agricultural products dropped from $9.1 billion in 2004 to $5.5 billion in 2005. Take nonfood products, such as hides and skins, from the equation, and the U.S. now imports more food than it exports, according to the trade figures.

___

On the Net:

Agriculture Department: http://www.usda.gov

we need to raise the price of food we sell the middleeast
to match the price of crude oil....

Great idea ;) :bow.gif

Thats very good point about that.Well
Thats true we need get our gas prices back to normal,
I understand about your point of view about that.

Well at least you can go to other stores to get better lower prices
or  at u-pick farmer fields on side of road. ;)

I think some farmers should go buy 55gallon drums
take them georgia state line fill them up with unleaded gas and head
back to florida and sell it on side of road for lower price.
I know they will make a killing of cash$$ for doing that..  :)

I agree, a barrel of corn for a barrel of oil.

just wait till the US starts running cars on ethanol,,,then the farmers that are left will be buying chromed cars themselves ;-)

Id@

I heard about that on news last week
how they are trying find new ways to save
on fuel cost. :)

I see the commercials for GM I think with e-86 fuel?

 Great Idea.I am tinkering with setting my 01 7.3 powerstroke to run on WVO (waste vegetable oil)I would rather buy US products then fill up my tank @ $100 bucks & buy some towel head a new gold toilet paper holder!

How dare you call them "towel heads"  >:(  Very tasteless.  It is really a little white sheet, so it is more politically correct to say "little sheet heads"  ;D ;D

lol..... Good one Steve.

how come everything goes up in price and my paycheck stays the same :o

little sheet head? ever see the nose on those dudes?

dude i thought i was the only one................ ;D

LOL! Awesome man! good one!

I have seen win dixe prices at fruit & vegs area.
I know they are over prices maybe becuase taxes
they charge.It depends what store you shop at.

My best bet plant a garden in your backyard.I have
done it while back at my old house in hollywood fl long time ago.

If have farm land your chances are alot better
to plant more food for yourselfs and you can make alot
money off it by selling them to other local food markets in small towns. :)

I always say start small first and get bigger later on. 8)

HEY americanhighlander
 Got any good recipes for Currie goat?

No we don't eat goat we sell them
to people or at farm auctions.But people do
buy them for eating or raising them or use them as
milk goats. :)