Shameless Self Promotion of My Economic Plight

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Why do people buy organic foods? Tastes worse, more expensive and usually no healthier.

Tastes worse? What?

[lungs]

Originally Posted by SportsDino

Like I said before, just because everyone does it, don't make it right. You seem to have an idea that makes common sense to me, hopefully you can turn it into a competitive advantage. I think innovation is a money maker, but you do need some luck (like not having your farm killed by moronic market manipulation by some monopoly driven megacorporation).

Like I said earlier, my banker has got my back through this. He's not just a numbers guy as he keeps tabs on how I actually operate and he continually levels praise on how I run things. Everybody I've talked to says if we can't make it through this, the whole industry is in big trouble.

It's kind of funny that after this article ran in the local newspaper, some people I know really well have been approached expressing real concerns about our well-being as a business and on a personal level. I guess we are one of the few out there that aren't ashamed to talk about it. My grandfather (86 years old) is absolutely ashamed that we are in a story like that, considering it's the farm that he started back in 1945.

My father and I sort of laugh at the whispers. The nice part is, unlike a lot of farmers, we can get away for a few days or a week if things really get to us psychologically. Even talking to you all in a thread like this is therapeutic in a way. Just keeping a level head throughout all this and realizing that the world is not going to end either way goes a long way in keeping us going on a daily basis.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Tastes worse? What?

Organic stuff tasting better is a myth in my opinion. If organic stuff tastes better it's because more care was taken producing the product, not because it's organic. Kraft's sliced Swiss cheese came out on top in Consumer Reports. That's because they buy it from my processor

(as much as I hate Kraft for manipulating the markets)

[SportsDino]

Well you need to speak up when something is wrong, don't mean you are failing or even looking for a handout. I mean, this whole economic mess is because people are often more concerned about appearances and pretending everything is okay, because they think the moment you say something negative you are going to get slaughtered in the market somehow and lose your business. If our society made it a habit to point out shenanigans earlier we might actually start preventing somethings from blowing up into a crisis all the time.

Nothing to be ashamed about for calling a spade a spade.... if you ask me its a sign of strength, not weakness.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Tastes worse? What?

Lay off me, I like my artificial growth hormone.

I don't think it actually tastes worse in general in meats and cheeses, but I don't think it tastes better either and certainly isn't worth the added cost. Specifically in fruits where organic gets conflated with non-GM I do prefer the "non-organic" stuff.

[lungs]

Fantastic rally on the futures market last Friday and today is putting us at positive cash flow by December with November inching closer.

Very positive developments the past few days, as last Thursday it wasn't looking good until Feburary/March of 2010. This couldn't come at a better time.

It's been a rough fucking year but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer. Too late for many out there, but that's the nature of the beast, and necessary.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Glad to hear it. I'm guessing the futures went up based on the fact that I drank two huge glasses of milk today.

[sterlingice]

Good to hear

Secretly, I think commodities will rise quite a bit over the next five years but that's mainly because inflation is going to catch us and that's where it's going to start. Not sure that's necessarily good news, tho.

SI

[lungs]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Good to hear

Secretly, I think commodities will rise quite a bit over the next five years but that's mainly because inflation is going to catch us and that's where it's going to start. Not sure that's necessarily good news, tho.

SI

And that wouldn't necessarily be good news for myself either, as a very large chunk of my inputs are commodities. The positive aspect of that though is I do grow a good chunk of said commodities myself as opposed to those poor saps out west that don't.

This latest swing has me confident enough that it isn't drive by speculation, as it coincided with a USDA report that essentially said we are killing tons of cows right now.

My fingers are crossed that the jackasses at Kraft won't dump a bunch of cheese on the market to drive the price back down.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Glad to hear it. I'm guessing the futures went up based on the fact that I drank two huge glasses of milk today.

Could it be the 6 gallons of milk my family drinks a week?

[lungs]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

Could it be the 6 gallons of milk my family drinks a week?

It all adds up

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

Could it be the 6 gallons of milk my family drinks a week?

Ya know, they sell condoms in the same store where they sell milk.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Ya know, they sell condoms in the same store where they sell milk.

We get our milk from Trader Joe's, so unless I'm missing something really unique about Trader Joe's....


Two personal notes for lungs here:

One, I live in the same town as Kraft's world headquarters, so if you ever need someone to throw a dead cow over the fence, let me know.

Two, our local farmer's market has had a guy selling cheese from Wisconsin all summer, and he's had some good stuff. I know you probably don't supply this guy, but I think of your farm when I see him.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Ya know, they sell condoms in the same store where they sell milk.

LOL! Now here is the shocker...there are 4 of us that drink it constantly (3 kids and Me)...the Mrs does not drink a lot of milk...but the 4 and 9 year old drink it like it is going out of style. When I am home I drink a gallon every 2 days myself.

[Mustang]

We used to go through a gallon every week. I then bought my wife a espresso machine and we had a kid so, it went from 1 to around 4 or 5. So, I'm doing my part.