[gardeners] Re: Agricultural Disaster
bsk (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Thu, 24 Jun 1999 09:11:56 -0500
Allen that is pretty much the way we do business around here. Everything is
paid for and if you can't afford to plant something then you better do
something else that year. Last year was scary for us also. I don't know if
the worse part for us was the worry about the animals or the finding the
money to buy so much extra feed! If worse came to worse we could have sold
off the cows and got a town job. (Big insult to many country working
people!) We would not have lost our place or anything just would have had to
start over with new cows.
I am not familiar with all the safety nets out there that has been
offered or removed by the government entities. I don't like people loosing
there homes and heritage. I do wonder though if people would do business
more like you and I and not depend on some of these programs if we would all
be better off. Here I am with a dinky little garden and having a hard time
getting maximum performance out of it and there are many people trying to
depend on crops for their livelihood in a major way! With the mixed up
weather conditions, the high cost of equipment and operating I don't know
how anyone can live off the land enough to compensate for these
expenditures.
When we moved into the families original area and bought the old
family farm we thought we were far enough out. We bought what land we could
and wanted to use for operating and for elbow room. Now not but just a
couple of miles away is this man that buys property 40 - 80 acres at a time.
Breaks it up into lots then puts trailer houses on them! Now all you people
out there that live in trailer houses don't get offended here please. The
things he does are not nice clean places or new trailers. The places he
develops are run down, ratty, people that don't work and are in trouble. A
true country persons nightmare. We are really tight on money right now
because of other things we are working on but as soon as we can do it, maybe
within the next year, we will start buying land again. We have some property
that is small acreage's 40 - 160 adjoining ours that he could come in a
develop with this junk. We will just look at it like expanding or buying
more elbow room, anything to keep that from being close to me! It is a shame
we don't have zoning laws here in the country!
bsk@brightok.net
zone 7a
aka " Ranchmama "
----- Original Message -----
From: Allen and Judy Merten <jbmerten@swbell.net>
> . I saw the same heart breaking situation
> in Texas and Oklahoma last year. Many family farmers have lost it all
because of
> the drought in 1996 followed by 1998's drought.
> Many of the safety nets offered by the US government since the dust
> bowl/depression days have been removed by the Republican Party which has
> controlled our Congress for the last few years.
> Due to the fiscal philosophy of my Dad's family the farm has no
> encumbrances other than taxes.
> Allen
> Bastrop Co.