Seven Jobs In Danger Of Disappearing Forever

Mark - IN.

Well-known Member
My internet service provider, Comcast, has news popups when I login. Today, they had one titled as above. Naturally, I looked to see if my job was one, and I am soon to be history. They had power plant employees...no surprise since the new Washington DC hates fossil fueled anything by his own admission prior to being elected the first time. But here is one that they had on their list, so copied and pasted we have...

Farmers: "Between 2010 and 2020, some 96,100 farmers and ranchers will go out of business, the BLS says. “As land, machinery, seed, and chemicals become more expensive, only well-capitalized farmers and corporations will be able to buy many of the farms that become available,” the BLS predicts. “These larger, more productive farms are better able to withstand the adverse effects of climate and price fluctuations on farm output and income. Farmers can either fight ‘em by niche marketing (think organic produce grown for local restaurants) or join ‘em by moving into farm management for an agribusiness corporation or, for those who like the business side of farming, agriculture consulting. If you’re up for a completely new career, consider agricultural appraising, says Cheryl L. Cooley, communications manager for the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers."

Its of interest here, so I copied and pasted. They left out a lot of factors, like for example, new EPA overregulation on EVERYTHING, but the people heading those top government department positions are hand picked appointments or cabinet approvals, and I will leave it at that.

Mark
 
Had a talk with a friend the other day and we were thinking that there is no way that the family farm can last. One reason is that the capital needed to begin farming is out of the reach of most young , would be farmers and the old way of father to son passing of the farm is no longer happening.
Another problem is that the new trend of farmers forming LLC's to escape liability and now having that LLC go deeply in debt to increse the size of the farm operation is alarming. When bad crop years cause these LLCs to fail and be forced into bankruptcy the only buyers with enough capital or credit to purchase the farm land and assets are the BTOs or million dollar corporations who will seize the chance to control large acre farms and continue the trend toward hugh factory farms. When that happens America's cheap food will come to an end and too late the public will realize that they need to keep the smaller farm.
 
One that job I know of lost forever when growing up was the Ice Man. He would come around with a chunk of ice for grand mothers ice box. Mom and Dad had a butaine refrigator. Us kids would always bum a small piece of ice from him.Stan
 
I can remember going to the ice house in Palmer Texas. To get my grandmother a block of ice. She had a real icebox. Didn't believe in electricity. Said it was the devils work and would not have it in the house. This was in 1959.
 
Nope. They are so not on the list, that DC is Boomtown. It is thriving in all aspects including new home builds. Pretty much the only place in our nation that is.

My job as a AT&T repairman takes me out and about. In my travels, I can't count the number of homes that I see either up for sale or foreclosure. People's dream castles going, going, gone. The places that they chose to raise families, send their children to college, watch them take their wedding vows and do it all themselves. Its a very scary view almost like watching the sky go from grey to black before a tornado comes down and ravages the countryside. You've seen it before, you know its coming, you hope that it doesn't, but you know that it is, just not when. While the rest of our nation limps along, DC is Boomtown. There is something inherently wrong with that, and disturbing that so many either don't care, or are oblivious to it.

Mark
 
numbers without perspective mean little.

to put the 96,000 into perspective there are over 2 million farms in the US. so that would be a decrease of 5% in ten years - not the end of a profession in my mind.

also to put in perspective to open a major franchise (Fast food, Gas Station, Retail) you need to have between 250,000 and 1,000,000 in capital. I figure I will have about that tied up in my farm by the time I am 50. Hard to do but not entirely out of reach.

-Paul
 
I know of 2 local guys that gave up farming in the last couple of years. Not being able to get land is the biggest thing, a few farms that are very large can pay higher rents, or simply buy property outright. Add in the high cost of inputs, they just couldn't compete. Land is the key, no land, no farmer.
 
I think most of Michigan is stuck in recession. Some areas, like A2, are doing very well. But most of my friends kids have moved out of state. Very few jobs pay well enough to support a home in Livingston county. From what I see, the kids are still leaving.
 
Michigan's problems are for the most self inflicted, Michigan's economy was dependent on the automobile. Then they became abundant, liberals don't like cars, cars are evil, cars cause global warming, cars must be taxed, they don't make as many cars there as they used to, a lot fewer autoworkers building a lot fewer cars, that and with the auto production belt shifting South to avoid Michigan's workmen's compensation laws, Michigan's taxes, Michigan's Unions and Michigan's employment laws means they don't have the high paying job base they once had.
 
That's hardly a new trend. Farming jobs have been in decline for a long time, the natural result of mechanization. And the current rate of decline is nothing like what was experienced in the thirties.
 
Many small dairy farms have been shutting down in the past few years here in central Minnesota. They sell their herds and switch to corn/soybean production or rent out their ground to neighbors. Larger dairies with 500 to 3000 cows are doing well yet.

Many jobs designing and building factory automation equipment in the USA have disappeared as factories moved overseas.
 
To clarify your point a little bit, liberals don't like YOUR cars. They're just fine with their own SUV's and private jets and sprawling mansions.
 
Michigan was doomed when the unions got carried away with their own power, then the southern states went into partnership with foreign companies to bring in low cost non-union factories. Without realizing it,that outsourced so many of our white collar jobs overseas to design and engineer those products.

Sad situation. America sure misses all those taxes from people with high paying jobs, and now our college grad kids are working at Starbucks.
 
Not being able to get land is the biggest thing.

Why does everyone think that the only way to survive is to constantly EXPAND?

The problem is there is only so much land. When one farmer expands, another has to get smaller.

Now where there were two farmers there are only one.

It's part and parcel to the problem.

There's something wrong with the business model if the only way to stay in business is to keep expanding your operation. If more people just carved out a manageable niche for themselves and their family, and stuck with it, we wouldn't have these mega-farms. Heck, we wouldn't have inflation.
 
Because margins are going to keep getting thinner. A million in sales sounds good until you realize your net is only $50,000.


And it is the nature of farming. 100 years ago a farmer in Kansas made a good living on 160 acres and could get by on 80 acres. My father raised a family of 12 with the earnings from 800 - 1200 acres. Today my BIL farms 800 acres while working a full time job as a teacher.
 
Nobody forces the farmer to expand. If he does so it it is because the economy or changing business financials or peer pressure brought it about.

Wall Street forces publicly traded compamies to expand because WS assigns little or no value to stable businesses or low growth companies that make a realistic return on investment year after year.

I know lots of very profitable, very stable, very wealthy business man that do not expand. They run their business to make a living and a profit and they don't give two hoots how Wall Street values it because they have no intension of selling it.

So if you are getting pressure to expand your farming operation, maybe you have been listening at the coffee shop, instead to the radio on the tractor.
 
apparently the job of independent prosecutor, will never be used in this present administration, though they have scandals, enough for at least 4, by my count!
 
I couldn"t agree with you more. You don"t have to, in my little
town 5 different small dairys have started up in the last 10
years with less than 60 cows each and are doing fine with no
intent to go big guns. And the best part is, we own the mailbox
at the end of our driveways.
 

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