I'll start out.
I'm not much of a speech person and I didn't get much written up. We're a family. My wife and I run a mixed grain farm in the Nobleford area. I got an invitation about two weeks ago, right in the middle of spring, so I didn't get much put together. Two days ago we were seeding.
When I left high school, I got a technical ticket and worked at the John Deere dealership for ten years. In the meantime, I farmed for four years while working full time, and in 1997 I quit my job to go into farming full time.
We've had ups and downs in our area. I bought my first property in 1994 at a price of $400 an acre. Right now land in our area is trading for $1,400 to $1,500 for dry land. If you watch the markets, you know there's no way to ever pay for that land at $1,400 or $1,500.
My biggest trouble in our area is competing with the subsidized market. Our crop insurance program and risk management are very costly in terms of the amount that we pay versus our protection. The U.S. is protecting their producers. An example would be durum; we don't grow primarily durum, but we grow some durum in our rotation. For the 2010 crop year the U.S. is giving them $6 per bushel for durum, while we're over-produced; I can't sell the product I have in my bins from two years ago, and I can't pay my bills that I have from two years ago.
Flax is another crop we grow. We have a GMO issue with it. Our market has dropped. We have more bills to pay.
In 2003 BSE hit and borders were shut. We're in a major cattle-feeding operation area. After the millions of dollars handed to select corporations, it's very tough to compete with them as a grain farmer. They're importing products from the U.S. when they could be using our own locally grown products.
With the government helping out select groups, I find it financially very tough to compete in that market. At my age, at 40 years old, I don't see a future left in this for me or for my next generation. I think something has to change on the program side of it and with the way the government has handed out some of this money and continues to hand out some of this money.