Agriculture Isn't All About the Money

 I want to clear some things up and challenge readers' thinking on the concerns and comments about agriculture and raising livestock being nothing more than a money-making sector of the economy. I've noted several comments about this in a number of sites, not to mention articles that claim that "farmers just raise their animals/crops because they're looking for a profit." I never exactly questioned the why's and wherefore's of these comments until now.



Why is it that people think and believe that farms and farming is merely a money-making venture, or that farmers (who I prefer to call producers) raise livestock like cattle just to make a profit off of them?? Also, why is there such negativity and bitterness surrounding the fact that producers growing crops and raising livestock do it to not feed themselves but to make money?? I don't get it, coming from a farming background myself I just can't get my head around the reason for people to carelessly throw that out there and expect everyone to take it as fact.


Producers in North America are focused on making money, not food, but...


The problem is that it's really only partly fact. And what most don't realize, especially those who are generations removed from the farm, is that in most if not all agricultural enterprises, very little to no true profit has been made. Yes, the very thing that we producers end up with at the end is money in the pocket, because the farms we run are done so as a business (except for the urbanites' hobby farms), but this money we get is gross profit or income, NOT net profit or just plain profit. To say that people farm or raise livestock just to make a profit is really an outright lie. It's also a show of ignorance and misunderstanding about finances because there is far more to it than what people might think.


When a producer calculates profit, he cannot ever figure that he is making money simply by the check he gets from the barley grain or cattle he sold. This often-yearly cheque that he gets is what gross profit or income is all about. Net profit is determined when all of his expenses that he has incurred from the farm's operations are subtracted to the income he received from what he sold. Income should never be confused with profit, because income is really the money that comes into a business after a product is sold, excluding expenses. Profit or Net Profit, however, is money that is left over after all expenses are deducted from gross profit. If no income is left over after all expenses are deducted, it is called Net Loss.


Expenses for the average farm are primarily fertilizer, fuel and feed. Fuel and fertilizer are the biggest costs to a farm, such expenses often exceeding $5,000 per acre per year. Most farms in North America that are not hobby farms are over 100 acres in size. So, expenses in total would and could be well over $500,000 per year. It's not common for income in farms to exceed this amount. If it does, it's not by very much, just enough to break-even.


Despite these figures the fire-storm in the media and non-agricultural people alike still continues about producers "doing it for the money."


Farming in North America is indeed a business and thus a "money-making" venture. It is definitely not subsistence agriculture because the people who grow crops and raise livestock are not raising them to feed themselves and their families, but to feed others who cannot or will not grow crops or raise livestock to feed themselves. Thus instead it is known as "commercial" agriculture and consequently, a business just like any small businesses that do not focus on grain, milk, meat, wool, eggs, fruits and vegetables as the end product. So why does it seem like people think that agriculture should not be treated like a business and a money-making venture just like any other business?


And what other reasons are there that may be the cause for people to accuse those who farm to just "do it for the money"?


Answer: Misunderstanding could be part of the problem.


That has to be it. In Canada we have about 95% of the population who are so far removed from agriculture they have never seen a cow, horse, pig, chicken, goat, sheep, or donkey in real life before and have never had to experience the hard work that goes in to making a farm tick. It's these people that are easily mislead by extremists and the media who put blame on the few people who abuse and mistreat their animals, and are lead to assume that it happens all across the country. This is no different south of the border where 98% of the population are urbanites and/or have no farm experience whatsoever.


I have been taught by close family and friends that there are people out there to get you. And that doesn't limit those suburbanites who constantly worry about criminals sneaking into their home and stealing their jewelery, it's a big problem for farmers who have to deal with the constant bureaucratic, politically correct, Disney-ized BS that comes from the media, animal rights extremist groups, environmental extremist groups, and the general population who get suckered in to this vortex of brainwashing, hypocritical misinformation and half-truths. No wonder it gets so confusing and overwhelming for those trying to sort the false truths from the REAL truths!

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