Cultivating farming’s cerebral side
There’s a mechanism at work behind the hundreds of billions of dollars agriculture augers into Canada’s economy each year. And it’s a mechanism that rejuvenates in winter and churns during the summer.
It’s dark early. There’s snow on the ground. The combine and tractors are parked. The seeder, cultivators and conveyor are where they will sit until needed in 2017. And I’m in my office, as busy as I was in summer.
The work is mostly cerebral now, but not entirely.
If our yard light burns out, I would need to start the tractor we use in winter, letting it run for about 20 minutes to acclimatize before I require horsepower from it.
Then, I would need to remove the snowblower that is mounted to the tractor’s three- point hitch and disconnect the hydraulics. The next step is finicky: attaching the bucket involves approaching the device with precision, matching tractor guides to bracket arms. It always takes multiple attempts and all the patience one can muster.
Someone would then need to stand in the bucket, harnessed, while I lift him or her up to the top of the telephone pole where our light is mounted.
It’s one of many things that could happen on this farmyard, all of which are my responsibility to fix, to budget around, to plan for. When it’s - 30 C and you live miles from town and there are snow drifts a few feet high covering your driveway, a task as pedestrian as getting groceries will require hours of gruelling work and a bit of strategy.
This is a familiar scenario, by the way. In 2014, two years after my wife and I moved to the farm, I had to clear snow off our 800- metre driveway and eight- acre yard often twice per day in order for us to l eave and r eturn. Each time took hours, and also involved helping out neighbours, getting them unstuck, c l earing t heir yards when their tractors wouldn’t start, and, generally, ensuring everyone around us was safe, warm, and had access to the main road. Each neighbour did the same for us.
If you’re reading t his as petty, trivial complaining or you think I’m being hyperbolic, then I’m a poor communicator. It’s all stuff that takes time, money, and labour, and it’s all stuff that makes up what it means to live in rural Canada.
I don’t see my yard as a sea of possible calamities, but being aware of potential scenarios helps in thinking about how to properly allocate the lump sum that will have to last until next fall.
You’ ll drive yourself to the edge of reason if selling at the high point is your goal. I sold when I thought the time was right. Soybeans were trading at $ 12.56 per bushel at the time, which is a good price and one I feared wouldn’t rise. Three days ago, they were $13.
This is a world I’m still not entirely used to; a world where I could have made $ 4,000 by waiting a week before selling my crop. And I’m only dealing with small amounts. For a farmer with 2,000 acres of soys, that commodity price difference could represent up to $35,000.
But waiting isn’t always an option. Bills need to be paid. Cash flow plans need to be put in place. Some farmers intentionally sell small amounts at a time to space out the money coming in. Others operate differently, but they all have a plan.
Between budgeting for the unexpected costs of life and running a farm and ensuring there is money for the known expenses, there is lots to learn.
Companies, commodity groups and other organizations utilize winter to engage with farmers on these issues and many more, refreshing and updating them on issues such as commodity marketing, budgeting, staffing, asset management and production tips.
When a new combine runs at $ 750,000, knowing how to properly service debt, account for depreciation and have a detailed handle on your books is paramount. These events, often daylong workshops, happen in winter and they take place in towns and communities across Canada.
For many agriculturerelated groups, summer is the time for research and development, and winter is the time to share those results with farmers, helping them prepare for the following growing season.
Organizations receive direction from their farmer-run boards over winter. They have their AGMs at this time. Agriculture- related conferences and fairs take place between January and April.
By spring, the entire agricultural network across Canada has had ample opportunity to enter the new growing season a little smarter than the year before.