Progress

I think we are making progress. We have the crop insurance program filed, the seed paid for and the banking done for the new farm year. We were able to get all our loans under 5%. It took a lot of hard work and dedication by all of us to get here.

We were new farmers at age 54 in the eyes of lenders so we took on a lot of debt late in life like dad did to make it all happen. I don't regret it at all and wish I could have done it when I was 21. It wasn't in the cards.

Can you imagine having to walk into the bank at 75 like dad did and ask for $40,000 to finish completing the deal you and your dad worked all their lives for? I think about that and just smile. It can be done if everything is right. I will never forget the man who made it all happen for dad.

So, I help aspiring, solid young people analyze their talents and reach their dreams younger than I did. Brad bought his first farm at the age of 20. He has a long farming career ahead of him. I get many calls for advice but it so hard to analyze each situation and give the right recommendations. It is a large responsibility.

It seems like everything I take on is a large responsibility, maybe that is just how I look at it because I know every decision has repercussions. I knew what to do at 21 but everyone in my support group thought I was just a young wild college graduate with wild dreams. It's taken a life time to get here. That is why I encourage young people to pursue their dreams but take the hard earned steps to make them happen.

We will have more progress here when we get the taxes filed and paid for and the wheat all top dressed. Then we are only 4 months away from our next harvest. That's a good feeling.

I know how to raise a profitable crop. I feel like I know it inside out and I think most farmers do. The tough part is farm management, land, labor and capital and how you manage it. Thankfully I had a lot of good teachers but it took my lifetime to work through it. Somedays I feel like a slow learner with all this knowledge and not the ability to make it happen.

Marketing my crop is the hardest part but I can't focus on what if I had done this or that and keep making wise decisions. It is a tedious process some make look so easy to do.

Still, this is progress. Building a new store in a bean field or putting a 4 lane through the best field on the farm isn't. That is stupidity.

This economy is slowing down stupidity. Now that is progress.

I know I am going to get email and phone calls on this blog but that is what I am here for.

I have come a long way since that first Oliver 70 I bought almost 50 years ago.

Ed