The farmers are getting itchy

Does the person you are talking to seem to shift around in his seat alot lately? Does the sound of a diesel engine make them look quickly out the window? Does your conversation about the NCAA tournament suddenly shift to fertilizer prices? Chances are, you are talking to a farmer.

Just a week or so from now, a significant chunk of the population here in Daviess county will disappear, unreachable by phone or text, not seen in the local restaurants or wal-marts. No, aliens haven't performed a mass abduction, the farmers are going to the fields.

Yep, it's looking more and more like spring around here and the locals farmers are going stir crazy just waiting to get into the fields. The ground is still a little spungy but the fertilizer spreaders have been running continuously and the spra-coupes have come out of winter hibernation. Tobacco plants are being seeded in greenhouses (they start their lives in greenhouses to get started before being transplanted to the fields). It won't be long, maybe a week or so, until the first corn crops are planted around here.

Its always fun this time of year to poke a little fun at the local farmers. Just tell one that a neighbor down the road has already started planting on the back forty. The farmer will inevitably spout off something about it being to early or too wet or something, but you can see the steam coming from their ears because they aren't the first and you can see the wheels turning as they try to figure out if they have some ground dry enough to get started on. Of course, you hear every year of that one farmer who pulls his planter up and down the road with no real intentions of doing anything just to get his neighbors riled up.

Just being around these guys even makes me a little anxious this time of year. I am not a farmer nor in any way connected with traditional agriculture, but I do get that urge to just do something. Usually, I put in a few weeks of extra-long hours at work (thats partially why the blog posts haven't been so forthcoming). Its also when I seem to get itchy to move on to greener pastures job-wise, for example, see exhibit A.

Anyways, its always refreshing for me to see the tractors moving up and down the road, it means winter is over. It also means being stuck behind a vehicle doing 10mph on a 55mph stretch of highway.

Now for the curmudgeon to put on his straw hat and give the farm report:

Talk amongst the farmers seems to be that this year will be a struggle to make a profit. Inputs, seed, fertilizer, etc. . .are still priced high while grain prices are sinking due to the economy. Of course, anytime you talk to a farmer they are having a hard time making any money, but they all seem to live pretty comfortably.

The downtown development master plan is having an effect on farmers too. All those tractors and equipment have to be insured, and if you'll remember correctly, the city and county just doubled the tax they put on this insurance in order to fund bonds for the downtown project.

A 92.5 acre tract of good-dirt, non-flooding, farmland just outside the city limits (between Keller Road and Fisher Road for those playing along at home) sold at auction for $9400 an acre just last week. Apparently, the new owners plan on planting an orchard full of trees growing money.

And thats the curmudgeon farm report for today, tune in next time. . .