re: Gas prices are the lowest I've seen in years

Corn and soybeans are down only marginally from a year ago. Corn around $3.50 a bushel from about $3.70 last year and beans are around $9.00 bushel from about $10 or so a bushel last year. Less beans and corn were planted this year than last but that again is marginal. The lower cost is generally being absorbed by lower fuel cost so for the most part- the farmers who made a crop- that is the farmers that got rain or irrigate, had a pretty good year.

Corn and soybeans feed the world and for the most part are stable commodities and getting better as more row crop land is being irrigated which helps forecasting tremendously.

Beef, pork and poultry farmers will benefit from the lower cost of feed and lower cost of fuel which eventually should make its way down the chain to the consumer,however when is anyone's guess.

While some ranches overpaid that is no different than anytime. People buy and sell cattle every day. My grandfather always bought cattle when Texas was dry because in the middle of Louisiana he could have quite a few more head per acre than West Texas. He made quite a lot of money that way over the course of a lifetime.

And no one just switches crops and begs for subsidies. It doesn't work like that. We plant corn, soybeans, cotton and winter wheat. We pay for crop insurance that is guaranteed by the federal government just like buying flood insurance in New Orleans. The only way to collect is having say a hurricane or disease ( we had an aflatoxin in corn a few years back) kill it. But that is about 60 on a dollar.

Farmers work their arse off for ONE paycheck a year. It is much more of a gamble and much more hard work than everyone realizes.

Funny. I was filling up my car with gas in Virginia about three hours ago. The regular gas cost $2.70 per gallon.

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Ehh, direct farm subsidies don't exactly jive with that "gamble."

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I farm 420 acres of beans, corn, cotton and winter wheat. I get ZERO subsidies.