"Why won't they sign?"
"Don't they realize we are offering triple their net profit?"
I married a farmer. I realized quickly farming doesn't always make sense.
The inputs are high and prices are often low.
I imagine its similar to a gambling addiction. You are placing your bets that Mother Nature, grain and cattle markets, and holding your breath as the interest rates climb.
So why do we do it?
Everyone remembers their first dance. If you are like me, you likely spent weeks planning what to wear, who was going, and who you might share a dance. The fluttering stomach and excitement was enough to keep you up.
Enter Harvest.
There is something truly magical about harvest time in a small town. (On a good year)
Those farmers have placed their bets the seasons prior and now the dance is finally here. They worked their ground, they planted, they prayed, it rained, the wind blew, but now it is our time. The prices are good and the wheat is golden.
The farmers work before the sun goes up and late into the night to capture every bushel of wheat as quickly and safely as they can.
Their wives, who often has a job in town, prepares multiple meals a day for multiple hungry workers and spends all evening cleaning up the mess. She doesn't see her husband or dad for what could be weeks, except the endearing time of dropping off food and picking up trash.
The technology has changed, no doubt. Yet, somehow the harvest stays the same-just with GPS and air-conditioning.
It is a full family effort, and this mama can't think of a better way to raise two boys. They will know the pain of fixing fence on a hot summer day while their friends are at the pool. They will know the heartbreak of losing a calf. They will know that their family has farmed or ranched that same land for sixth generations.
In land work it's easy to ask why. Why won't that crazy old farmer sign this lease?
I can sum it up with six words:
For the Love of the Game
Respecting their concerns and the value that land has to their family is imperative in a successful acquisition. They want to know we will respect their land as if it had been in our family for six generations.
When we do that, when we remember we came knocking on their door, a successful project is made.
