"The future profit potential from those 3,000 sows far outpaces what he could make on the 80 acres"

I'm missing how that figures out.  3,000 sows are going to eat all that 80 acres in the form of $8 corn and $15+ beans within a year, and I don't think this liquidation is going to shake out that fast, only the tough and hard headed have made it this far, so the tree is going to have to shake really hard to knock more out, and unfortunately the independents are up against mult-billion dollar corps to play the deeper pockets game.  I admire his committment to giving it all he has, but selling off a currently extremely profitable asset to fund an enterprise that is uncontrollably hemmoraging red ink, seems very short sighted, especially so with the market so extremely volatile. 

Only my opinion with very little info on the situation.

Eddie