|
North Central Illinois | The demand base is more diversified than it was then. Then you had exports and livestock. I don't know what the breakdown was between exports and livestock but I would guess that livestock was huge and exports were pretty small. Yields start to improve greatly and pretty soon we are awash in grain. Then Jimmy threw the grain embargo at us. This was about the time we were told we had to find other markets for our products. Along came ethanol albeit at a slow pace. By the early 1990's we were still awash in surplus grain although once in a while things would tighten up. From then on the diet of people around the globe began to improve helped improve exports. After the turn of the century ethanol finally began to get serious attention and pretty soon we are using as much corn for ethanol as we are for livestock. Lets not forget that interest rates have been at historic lows for some time now compared to when a lot of land was bought in the 70's and 80's. These are just a few of the things that have changed. There are many more if you really want to see them. If you don't want to see them they are hard to find. I find little use in wringing the hands and just waiting for history to repeat itself so some people who have been aggresive buying land get their ass handed to them. Are there going to be some hard times ahead? Sure there will but I think the guys that are buying ground are much better postioned than many of those in the 70's and 80's. Why is everyone so preoccupied with wanting the 70's and 80's to return? Its just like every spring guys on here start with all of the talk about how this is gonna be just like 1983 or 1988 because the pond is dry or the woolly worms were late or whatever. Bad times are hard to forget but why constantly dredge them up. Yes, things are different now. If you can't see that I would suggest new glasses. | |
|
Inflated Balance Sheets
