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| Very good article, Redman. You should send it in to Grainews or the Producer although I doubt they'd print it. No one wants to hear bad news. Interesting you say you were with the debt review board, in my own earlier life I sat on the other side of the desk in a chartered bank. In 1971 the farmers were coming out of Operation Lift, 4 bushel quotas, trading wheat for TV's and pickups. We were sending out Demand Payment letters right, left and centre. The big boss from Calgary would come out and tell us we had to collect from honest guys who didn't have any money, then go back to his plush office and let the local managers do the dirty work. How different it was two years later when grain prices went through the roof. All of a sudden we were supposed to drag farmers in off the street and stuff them full of nice green money. Every year your customers would come in, you'd do an updated balance sheet and lo and behold, they were worth a whole lot more - even though it was all inflated assets. So you'd lend money on those inflated assets, the farmer was happy - after the sh*tkicking they'd just come through they thought they'd died and gone to heaven. Add to that the boomer generation just getting started and yes, the banks were tripping over themselves to deal with farmers. Over at FCC, where before you couldn't get a loan unless you could prove you didn't need it, suddenly the flood gates were opening too. Things quietened down in the late '70s but 1979 seen another jump back up in wheat prices so away we went again. But the inflation of the 70's was running it's course and governments decided in their infinite wisdom it had to be slowed which they did very well: 18 - 23% interest rates. Hundreds of guys caught with floating interest rates. The loans that started out at 6 or 7% tripled. Not that farming was alone, between the NEP and skyrocketing mortgage rates people in Calgary and other cities were walking away from homes when the mortgages were renewed (gee, doesn't that sound familiar?). Up here we'd hear of banks writing down loans for farmers in the States but up here forget it. Even though signing a note was a two-way deal the farmer lost the fight. Penny auctions, sit-ins, and Trudeau's Liberals continued to give us the finger as usual. About that time was when the debt review boards got going. I heard good stories and I heard horror stories. Had the opportunity to get on with one, but I turned it down. So now we've progressed to the era of big operations, high costly inputs, massive farm debt - and guys are jumping ship all over the place. Hundreds of farm auctions, usually not because they're broke but sick of the rat race and few of the next generation that are willing to step in. What's the answer - around here it looks like huge investor owned operations often leased to local farmers. Doesn't matter if it's good or bad - it's just the way it is. Guess that's my rant. What was the question?
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Canadian Farm Debt
