Bossfarmer
Member
- Location
- between Perth and Inverness
carrot growers on contract are getting consistently richer year on year, as are SEED potato growers and dairy farmers on cop contracts
Has anybody ever got rich through farming?
- Thread starter DrWazzock
- Start date
Weasel
Member
- Location
- in the hills
Cannabis farmers will be the richest I think, they don't get subs either
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Vote Lib Dem!
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
Your not often wrong but you are this time, im not sying there is a lot but they are out there.
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Plenty of tenant farmers through the 70's &80's made enough, purely from productive farming/hard work/not drawing much to have the skiing holidays & shooting hobby that most seem to expect today, to buy land and add on. Once you own land, and you've paid for a chunk of it, it becomes easier to borrow to expand more.
I know, we were one. My father slogged his guts out on a rented farm, milking 330 cows by the late 70's (when that was a rarity). One of the first to put a herringbone parlour in, so that he could milk more. One of the first to put OOPF's in, so he could feed them better.
In the mid-80's we bought a nearby 129ac. In the early 90's we bought a couple more sizeable chunks on overdraft, and paid it off within a year or so. All that was done from farming income only.
I'm not sure it's possible for a tenant farmer to achieve the same today though.
I know, we were one. My father slogged his guts out on a rented farm, milking 330 cows by the late 70's (when that was a rarity). One of the first to put a herringbone parlour in, so that he could milk more. One of the first to put OOPF's in, so he could feed them better.
In the mid-80's we bought a nearby 129ac. In the early 90's we bought a couple more sizeable chunks on overdraft, and paid it off within a year or so. All that was done from farming income only.
I'm not sure it's possible for a tenant farmer to achieve the same today though.
dinderleat
Member
- Location
- Wells
Plenty of tenant farmers through the 70's &80's made enough, purely from productive farming/hard work/not drawing much to have the skiing holidays & shooting hobby that most seem to expect today, to buy land and add on. Once you own land, and you've paid for a chunk of it, it becomes easier to borrow to expand more.
I know, we were one. My father slogged his guts out on a rented farm, milking 330 cows by the late 70's (when that was a rarity). One of the first to put a herringbone parlour in, so that he could milk more. One of the first to put OOPF's in, so he could feed them better.
In the mid-80's we bought a nearby 129ac. In the early 90's we bought a couple more sizeable chunks on overdraft, and paid it off within a year or so. All that was done from farming income only.
I'm not sure it's possible for a tenant farmer to achieve the same today though.
Nothing is impossible you just have to find a way to make it possible.
dinderleat
Member
- Location
- Wells
This is spot on seen far to many wealthy unhappy people.
matthew
Member
- Location
- Cornwall, SW England
)- Location
- Norfolk
I given up trying to make money from my farm, hopefully it'll start to happen now.
There's some big veg and contracting businesses grown out of nothing.
You can only live tho....
There's some big veg and contracting businesses grown out of nothing.
You can only live tho....
Goweresque
Member
- Location
- North Wilts
Yes, a long time ago. The wool trade was the foundation of the British economy (up to 50% of it indeed) from the Middle ages through to the late 1700s as industry started to develop. All those lovely Cotswold towns, with all those stone houses and big churches were all built with wool money.
stablegirl
Member
- Location
- North
Went to visit a dairy farm in the midlands, started with one farm was hugely ambitious pushing number keeping a hat on costs, one of the very few farmers whose sole aim was to make money.
When we visited he was milking over 3000, on 4 sites all of which he had bought, he was working like a dog, was surrounded by men and women who could hardly speak english, but if he walked away from it all he would be "rich".
When we visited he was milking over 3000, on 4 sites all of which he had bought, he was working like a dog, was surrounded by men and women who could hardly speak english, but if he walked away from it all he would be "rich".
Hi, I'd say that the only thing that has made farming "look good" over the last 20 years is the increase
in the value of the land, BUT, in how many cases has this capital gain been used to keep the banks quiet ?.
There are quite a few dairy farmers who borrowed a lot during the 90's, when milk was really profitable,
but when Milk Marque was broken into 3 in April 1998, and the subsequent fall in milk price to around
17-18p a litre, which stayed at that level till mid-2007, meant a lot were relying on the banks generosity
to stay in business. The increase in land values when SFP came in allowed a lot to breathe easier.
PS -Rex Patterson built up a 5000 cow empire from nothing - BUT - he started in the 30's when
farming was in depression, and land values were cheap.
in the value of the land, BUT, in how many cases has this capital gain been used to keep the banks quiet ?.
There are quite a few dairy farmers who borrowed a lot during the 90's, when milk was really profitable,
but when Milk Marque was broken into 3 in April 1998, and the subsequent fall in milk price to around
17-18p a litre, which stayed at that level till mid-2007, meant a lot were relying on the banks generosity
to stay in business. The increase in land values when SFP came in allowed a lot to breathe easier.
PS -Rex Patterson built up a 5000 cow empire from nothing - BUT - he started in the 30's when
farming was in depression, and land values were cheap.