Official Poll: What is your BIGGEST worry about your herd?

[OneFineAcre]

Yeah, the issue is the "import" LOL THEY OWN THE US LAND!
China is buying a great deal of land in the US. The "US" is not really exporting as we generally think of it. American farmers are not profiting.

Now Southern, don't start a panic. You sound like Bossroo.

I seem to remember 20 years ago when a Japanese company bought the Empire State Building in NYC it was the Japanese that were going to own us.

A little lesson in Economics, capital will always follow the greatest return. When the real estate bubble crashed, a lot of foreign money flowed into all kinds of American real estate including farm land.

The fact is Japan, Korea, and the United Arab Emirates all import more US hay than China.

And, American farmers are profiting.

China would probably import more hay from the US except they don't allow any GMO.

I know you like data and research papers. The article in this link gives a lot of good information on hay exports. Authors are with University of Californian Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=11947

 

[Southern by choice]

The article was written by an economist. It was all about the growing concern.

Look at NC and look at how many jobs are gone because Russian Companies bought out so many poultry plants only to realize it was too expensive to ship the chickens back to Russia. Plants are still closed. Empty buildings, no jobs, land sits idle owned by Russian companies. Siler City lost over 400 jobs alone. NC was the 2nd largest poultry producer in the country. Chatham county being the heaviest producer.

I know you are relatively conservative so I am surprised this does not disturb you.

Foreign nationals are buying up prime American land. I am am AMERICAN first and we have everything we need right here in the good ole USA but we are being stupid for letting all our land be bought up for other countries to own. It puts us in a bad place.

I guess if you are a "one-world", share the wealth, give up our Sovereignty kinda guy than it won't matter to you.

I am not sure about your @Bossroo comment. Bossroo points out many things that are worth looking at.
Maybe it is from coming from strong military family background, I hate to see America getting sold off to the highest bidder.

 

[OneFineAcre]

The article was written by an economist. It was all about the growing concern.

Look at NC and look at how many jobs are gone because Russian Companies bought out so many poultry plants only to realize it was too expensive to ship the chickens back to Russia. Plants are still closed. Empty buildings, no jobs, land sits idle owned by Russian companies. Siler City lost over 400 jobs alone. NC was the 2nd largest poultry producer in the country. Chatham county being the heaviest producer.

I know you are relatively conservative so I am surprised this does not disturb you.

Foreign nationals are buying up prime American land. I am am AMERICAN first and we have everything we need right here in the good ole USA but we are being stupid for letting all our land be bought up for other countries to own. It puts us in a bad place.

I guess if you are a "one-world", share the wealth, give up our Sovereignty kinda guy than it won't matter to you.

I am not sure about your @Bossroo comment. Bossroo points out many things that are worth looking at.
Maybe it is from coming from strong military family background, I hate to see America getting sold off to the highest bidder.

I'm in fact very conservative economically and socially. And having a degree in Economics I would advise everyone to be careful about what "Economists" have to say. Most are biased to the left. Just take a look at Paul Krugman who is with the NY Times. Maybe the one you read was trying to make more of a political point.

I believe that chicken plant in Siler City was already closed. The Russian company bought it, spent several million dollars on it with the intention of re-opening it and never did. You say bought out "so many plants", that's just not true. The price of feed is what caused the hardship in the chicken industry, not a Russian company buying a processor. Farmers couldn't afford to feed the chickens.

No, I'm not a one world share the wealth kind of guy either. And no I'm not particularly concerned about this issue. I think you (or what you have read) are exaggerating. This topic is not new, and it has always been something that causes more of a "emotional" negative response that I think it deserves. In fact that surprises me a little bit about you in that you seem to approach most topics more "intellectually".

Only 1% of all land in US is owned by foreigners. Only 2% of privately owned land is held by foreigners. (The difference is that the federal government owns so much land). China isn't even in the top 5 holders (Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Portugal in that order) Over half of the agricultural land owned is timber. Very conservative investment for pension funds.

US investment firms own much more foreign farmland than foreigners do American land.

The US does need to be very cautious about the rise of China economically, politically, and militarily.

And finally, I am an Army veteran. Field Artillery. My dad fought in Vietnam in 1968-69. Infantry. Don't know what your "strong military family background" has to do with this. Unless you were implying that you are more patriotic than me and love this country more than me because I don't exactly agree with you about this?

 

[BrownSheep]

How bout them, Cowboys?.....

@babsbag...No, I'm in Idaho. California, I believe, is the number one dairy state. We had two farms last year that lost hay in spontaneous combustion fires. One lost over a 100 tons. Saw it smoldering for close to 2 weeks. They were scrambling and buying up what ever hay wasn't sold at the time I don't think the other guy lost the much but he did loose a grain elevator.

 

[babsbag]

@BrownSheep Guess I didn't realize that Idaho was in a drought too. Your water restrictions sound like the ones the farmers around here are facing. It is not pretty. We got .2" of rain last night and according to NOAA this drought is not ending between now and the end of Dec. Hoping that Jan brings downpours. We did get 3" from a thunderstorm last week; that was just crazy.

 

[BrownSheep]

@babsbag We've had drought like conditions for the past 10 or so years, but so much of our irrigation either comes from elsewhere in the state or from ground water so everybody gets by alright. This is kind of a neat site if you are interested.
http://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-idaho-drought-monitor-map.php

 

[babsbag]

@BrownSheep

Thanks for the map link. I am on the NOAA site monthly looking at updates on the drought. I am thankful though that CA is a drought state all summer every summer so our alfalfa and wheat crops don't depend on summer rain to grow; our farmers are prepared to irrigate all summer long and rain could really be more of a problem during those months than a help. We just need that winter rain and snow pack to get us through the summers. Sounds a lot like ID. CA ground water is slowly disappearing, which is more than a little unsettling. I never really thought about water until we moved to a place with a well. It is all on us out here.

 

[Southern by choice]

I'm in fact very conservative economically and socially. And having a degree in Economics I would advise everyone to be careful about what "Economists" have to say. Most are biased to the left. Just take a look at Paul Krugman who is with the NY Times. Maybe the one you read was trying to make more of a political point.

I believe that chicken plant in Siler City was already closed. The Russian company bought it, spent several million dollars on it with the intention of re-opening it and never did. You say bought out "so many plants", that's just not true. The price of feed is what caused the hardship in the chicken industry, not a Russian company buying a processor. Farmers couldn't afford to feed the chickens.

No, I'm not a one world share the wealth kind of guy either. And no I'm not particularly concerned about this issue. I think you (or what you have read) are exaggerating. This topic is not new, and it has always been something that causes more of a "emotional" negative response that I think it deserves. In fact that surprises me a little bit about you in that you seem to approach most topics more "intellectually".

Only 1% of all land in US is owned by foreigners. Only 2% of privately owned land is held by foreigners. (The difference is that the federal government owns so much land). China isn't even in the top 5 holders (Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Portugal in that order) Over half of the agricultural land owned is timber. Very conservative investment for pension funds.

US investment firms own much more foreign farmland than foreigners do American land.

The US does need to be very cautious about the rise of China economically, politically, and militarily.

And finally, I am an Army veteran. Field Artillery. My dad fought in Vietnam in 1968-69. Infantry. Don't know what your "strong military family background" has to do with this. Unless you were implying that you are more patriotic than me and love this country more than me because I don't exactly agree with you about this?

I suppose it is just another one of those things we will have to agree to disagree on.

I do need to clarify it was a Ukrainian company, not a Russian Company that bought out the poultry plant. There are many issues with this that I do not feel the need to go into.

However, I do find it deeply concerning how many are not paying much attention to the risk/danger of some foreign investors.

I'm not questioning your patriotism, but we do have a difference in the way we see the strategic and tactical consequences of giving away control of essential capabilities. The ability to feed our livestock and our people is a strategic concern.

I too remember the concern over the Japanese buying up real estate in the US, and understand that they were buying here as they thought their investments here would bring the best available ROI.
They were making investments as described in articles like this one:
http://articles.latimes.com/1989-03-08/business/fi-285_1_japanese-investment

The difference is the Japanese government was and remains a friend of the US. The US investments were made overwhelmingly by corporations privately or publicly held and the vast majority of their investments were and are designed to generate profits.

The Chinese investments are VERY different. The Chinese GOVERNMENT through numerous “private commercial” enterprises is strategically seeking to insert itself into numerous businesses that are essential to the health, well being, and even life of the American people.
See some of the references below:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelbac...sition-means-for-chinese-overseas-investment/
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-...and-across-america-and-zillow-now-enabling-it
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/10/10/curious-case-chinese-chicken-import-export-business-273699.html
http://www.armed-services.senate.go...inese-intrusions-into-key-defense-contractors

They are doing the same in Panama, Australia, Europe and elsewhere.
Your examples of foreign investments by other governments don't hold up. The Chinese government is not capitalist as are Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Portugal.

The dominant force in the Chinese economy is the government, which controls and gets a cut of everything that goes on. So that sale of Smithfield also funds the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army), which is seeking to improve and modernize their ground forces, develop enhanced nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers, fighter aircraft etc. in hopes of being able to face down the US, and dominate the Pacific region.

The Chinese government resents the success of the US and other western nations, and is actively seeking to reduce our influence in the Pacific in the short term, and the world in the long term. I personally can't see how patriotism and helping an unfriendly nation into a position to threaten the security of the US are compatible. It's kind of like our current government, which failed to see what was going on with Muslim fundamentalists-they failed to understand that "while we were not at war with them they were at war with us".

 

[OneFineAcre]

I suppose it is just another one of those things we will have to agree to disagree on.

I do need to clarify it was a Ukrainian company, not a Russian Company that bought out the poultry plant. There are many issues with this that I do not feel the need to go into.

However, I do find it deeply concerning how many are not paying much attention to the risk/danger of some foreign investors.

I'm not questioning your patriotism, but we do have a difference in the way we see the strategic and tactical consequences of giving away control of essential capabilities. The ability to feed our livestock and our people is a strategic concern.

I too remember the concern over the Japanese buying up real estate in the US, and understand that they were buying here as they thought their investments here would bring the best available ROI.
They were making investments as described in articles like this one:
http://articles.latimes.com/1989-03-08/business/fi-285_1_japanese-investment

The difference is the Japanese government was and remains a friend of the US. The US investments were made overwhelmingly by corporations privately or publicly held and the vast majority of their investments were and are designed to generate profits.

The Chinese investments are VERY different. The Chinese GOVERNMENT through numerous “private commercial” enterprises is strategically seeking to insert itself into numerous businesses that are essential to the health, well being, and even life of the American people.
See some of the references below:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelbac...sition-means-for-chinese-overseas-investment/
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-...and-across-america-and-zillow-now-enabling-it
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/10/10/curious-case-chinese-chicken-import-export-business-273699.html
http://www.armed-services.senate.go...inese-intrusions-into-key-defense-contractors

They are doing the same in Panama, Australia, Europe and elsewhere.
Your examples of foreign investments by other governments don't hold up. The Chinese government is not capitalist as are Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Portugal.

The dominant force in the Chinese economy is the government, which controls and gets a cut of everything that goes on. So that sale of Smithfield also funds the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army), which is seeking to improve and modernize their ground forces, develop enhanced nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers, fighter aircraft etc. in hopes of being able to face down the US, and dominate the Pacific region.

The Chinese government resents the success of the US and other western nations, and is actively seeking to reduce our influence in the Pacific in the short term, and the world in the long term. I personally can't see how patriotism and helping an unfriendly nation into a position to threaten the security of the US are compatible. It's kind of like our current government, which failed to see what was going on with Muslim fundamentalists-they failed to understand that "while we were not at war with them they were at war with us".

Glad you weren't questioning my patriotism, I don't know how I could have possibly misinterpreted that by what you said.

Thanks for explaining geopolitics and world affairs to me, you've already taught me so much about veterinary medicine and the law. I don't know how you find the time

I however, am not going to waste another minute of my life debating this with you.

And, back to my original comment, I hope you don't have any problems finding hay this winter despite the efforts of the Chinese government.

 

[HeidiO]

I am so paranoid that my goats are sick. Anything odd and I am sure they are in trouble. CAE, CL, bloat, and any other thing I am sure they have on any given day.

I guess I'm lucky my dad has cropland and I only have 3 goats. Hay is not a worry for me.