Hello again!
My mother always liked the expression,” money is the root of all evil.” She always laughed and added, “And it is the root of all evil because if you don’t have it, it makes you evil.”
I think of her little twist on that old adage and I know some wonderful people that do a lot with very little money.
The farmer
No one knows better how to tighten the purse strings and stretch a dollar to its breaking point than American farm families.
Wants and needs become clearly defined. Meals are cooked from scratch and leftovers are just the base of another meal.
Dairy cows still get their daily rations, as they are truly the breadwinners on the farm, no matter what the milk check looks like for the month.
I sometimes envy how their dedication to the land and their animals is so pure that they don’t have any regrets or resentment at the end of the day.
Tight budgets
John F. Kennedy is quoted for saying “The farmer is the only man in the economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.”
Our American farmers are one of the most flexible, quick to adjust work forces around.
The adjustments they have made to meet the consumer’s demands are endless, not to mention being courteous to new neighbors.
A lot of these changes require money. Their fuel bills, feed bills, and seed bills, would make many of us cry tears of frustration into our pillows at night.
Not to mention the hours and hours of tireless work put in their product, only to arrive with that product to sell and be told what it is worth, no matter what the cost was to produce it.
Assistance
FSA offers Marketing Assistance Loans (MAL) to farmers. These loans are great for anyone that has stored grain, just sitting there.
You can turn it into an asset with a short-term, 9-month loan and a low interest rate.
A MAL is available for producers who share in the risk of producing an eligible commodity. To be eligible, a producer must maintain continual beneficial interest in the eligible commodity.
Commodity loan eligibility also requires compliance with conservation and wetland protection requirements; beneficial interest requirements, acreage reporting, and ensuring that the commodity meets Commodity Credit Corporation minimum grade and quality standards.
FSA offers MALs on honey, wool and an assortment of grains, and other approved agricultural commodities.
Violating provisions of a marketing assistance loan may trigger administrative actions, such as assessing liquidated damages, calling the loan and denial of future farm-stored loans.
The most common violations are removing or disposing of a commodity being used as loan collateral without prior authorization and providing an incorrect quantity certification.
For more details on marketing assistance loans contact your FSA County office.
See you next week,
FSA Andy
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