Farm Prices and Taxes Cause Problems
Several "hot" topics are on the minds of local farmers this fall. Two of the important ones are prices for corn and soybeans and huge…
Several “hot” topics are on the minds of local farmers this fall. Two of the important ones are prices for corn and soybeans and huge increases in property taxes. Combined, these two spell serious financial problems for farmers.
What can be done about both of these problems? Some farmers are pessimistic about doing anything that can help. Short of some kind of catastrophe that reduces the amount of corn and soybeans that will be harvested, prices for these crops, especially corn, will be below what it costs to grow them. There appears to be too much corn and beans coming to market that will cause the extreme drop in prices from last year.
One marketing expert I read says that if farmers have some on-farm storage, they should store and hold their corn because there will be some improvement in prices later. Some will have their elevator that they sell through hold their corn, but they will have a storage cost to pay. They don’t know if prices will improve enough to offset their storage costs.
Other farmers will sell directly from the combine and take what they get. That can be tough, but they may feel they don’t have any other choice.
Regardless of what they decide, farmers need a marketing plan. If it is on-farm storage or elevator storage, they need to have a plan to market that crop, which takes much thought and research.
As for the tax situation, state Rep. John Patterson and Ashtabula County Extension Educator David Marrison are heading up a task force to see if there is something that can be done fairly soon to relieve this huge property tax increase. They had one meeting about two weeks ago and another one scheduled for next week. They are serious about seeing if something can be done.
It appears there may be a couple of alternatives worth exploring. Some interest has also been expressed in urging the Ohio Farm Bureau to play a major role in taking some kind of action. One problem seems to be is that other areas of the state haven’t been as interested as farmers are here in the northeastern corner.
Farmers had some favorable weather in September and early October that has helped corn and soybeans to mature. Most farmers feel that corn is ready for harvest while a few beans need just a little more time.
Now, if the weather stays favorable so they can harvest without fighting the mud, like they did the last two years, it will help. Anything that lowers harvest costs helps that much with the bottom line, as bad as it looks this fall.
Most of the silage corn is chopped and in the silo, bunker or the big white bags one sees on many dairy farms. It should be good feed because corn silage is one of the best high energy feeds that livestock farmers can harvest. In good years, and this seems to be one of them, they can harvest huge tonnages from each acre and the weather has helped.
So, when one sees those combines out in the corn and bean fields harvesting the crop, think about the problems being faced by farmers with this year’s low price-high tax situation. One person said that we don’t need all these gambling casinos and lotteries, just buy a farm and try to beat the weather and price situation. That’s gambling with high stakes.
Then, let’s pray for good harvest weather the rest of the fall.
Parker is an independent agricultural writer.
