Think locally, nationally, and globally

Jul 22, 2022

FCC article describes how global markets affect Canadian farmers.

By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com; Image via FCC

There is an adage people throw around and hope people get: think locally, act globally.

It’s simple enough… what we do locally has the “butterfly effect” on the whole planet, so make sure whatever we do on our farm is in the best interests of the planet.

But it’s a bit more complex than that, especially for farmers who not only have to think locally, but provincially, nationally, and internationally.

That’s the only way to increase the chance of having a successful season.

According to an article written by Farm Credit Canada (FCC), with input from Kyle Burak, an FCC Senior Economist, farmers need to be aware of how supply and demand should drive their production and marketing decisions.

Anyone can have the best yield of a crop ever, but who cares if there’s no demand for it?

The key is to read the market and where it is going.

Read the FCC article HERE.

Video: Selling Hay for 40 Years: Fritz Trauttmansdorff, Dunlea Farms

Fritz Trauttmansdorff came to Canada from Austria in 1980, bought a 45-cow dairy farm at Jerseyville, and within two years had more hay than he knew what to do with. He sold the quota in 1986, went debt-free, and built a hay business that has kept some of the same customers for forty years. Today Dunlea Farms runs about 2,500 acres — roughly 600 of it hay, the rest IP soybeans and grain corn — and Fritz makes the case that hay isn't the crop you grow when grain doesn't work. It's the crop that makes the grain work.

"If you grow corn, soybeans and wheat, you're on a three-wheeler. If you put hay in the rotation, you're on a four-wheeler."

WHAT WE COVER • Why the hay market moves independently of the Chicago Board — and what that does for farm-level risk
• The real cost of a mistake: five bushels in grain, versus the whole crop in hay
• Getting a second job out of the same iron — planting tractors that mow all summer, tillage tractors that bale
• How a grain farmer can get hay into the rotation without buying a single piece of hay equipment
• Drilling Timothy in the fall and double-cropping soybeans into it the next June
• What it actually takes to go all-in: roughly 500 acres, good sheds, and a baler you didn't buy used
• Local, regional and international hay markets — and choosing which one you're building for
• Why 40-year customer relationships are the asset, not the equipment