In some ways, this IS dysfunctional! The costs of machinery has greatly increased, but the cost of the product has not. It's the cost of technology.

Look at it this way. The cost of vehicles. In 1985, a brand new Ford pickup, F250, 4x4 Supercab with all bells and whistles cost $14,000. Today, that same truck (with bells and whistles) will cost $45,000. What is different? Computers, chips, technology. But the truck is still needed to work out of, so we must buy it. Not an option not to have it.

With that in mind, think about minimum wage. In 1991, minimum wage was $4.25/hour. Today, it's $5.15 per hour.

See, the cost of buying a car versus the wage made aren't equal, are they? It's the same way with farming. The cost of the machinery has skyrocketed, along with fuel, while the cost of the product, still about the same.

Isn't it the same way with the housing market in California? How is it that a family can bring home nearly $100,000 per year or more but still can't afford to buy a decent home? In fact, that is one of the reasons why New Mexico has so many dairies now. Almost all the dairymen I know came here to escape California. It's cheaper to have a dairy here. They come and can build a huge house (by New Mexico standards), and have a 5,000 cow dairy and still be rolling in money.

Apparently, I don't know much about these coorperate farms that you refer to. If you define a coorperate farm as just having that in the name, then many of those farms ARE family run. They are just bigger than what I run. They have more hired hands, more machinery. Are some a coop of local farms or dairies? When you see a Mid-America sign on a dairy here, it doesn't mean that all the dairies are owned by Mid-America. It means that they all are part of a deal that sends their milk to a Mid-America plant to be processed. They don't sell their milk to the open market. They sell it ahead of time TO this particular plant on a contract at the market price.

As a matter of fact, my father-in-law is head of a cooperation. His ranch is a cooperation on paper. He and his wife are the only employees, and he is the president, she the secretary. It's still a cooperation.

For some farm products that are grown, it works the same way. Wheat is harvested in June and is usually hauled to the local grain elevator where it is bought at the market price.

But in the case of my own farm, we have our product ready to sell ahead of time, then find a buyer. This year, we already have a verbal contract with a buyer, but no price has been set yet.

You ask how can we change that? Isn't it the same way with our Constitution? Many feel that it is outdated, that it doesn't fit our society today. How about the definition of a marriage you were speaking of not too long ago? Farming is the same as it has always been, just outdated now? Farm subsidies came into being mostly during the depression, as part of the ABC programs FDR started. They were put in to help keep the farmer in business and are still there for the same reason.

But I don't begrudge a cooperation the same assistance. Assistance is based not on amount of income, but on amount of land and the type of crop grown and on disaster funds, and all based on the county average of the particular crop. To get disaster funds, they have to sign up by a certain date and prove that the crop WAS planted. And hey, if they lost their crop in the same drought or hailstorm that I did, then they should be entitled to the same money that I am. A cooperation is selling their crop for the same price as me. They are just bigger landwise. Families still work for them to plant and harvest one way or another. Just like families still work at Walmart. It puts the food on the table. It isn't done by computers or all by itself. SOMEONE still had to do it with alot of manual labor if only to drive the tractor, and that someone still has to get paid. I don't mind subsidies going to these big farms, little people work for them, too. And the big farmer was once a little guy, too. He just worked hard and got big. Just like Walt Disney was just a cartoonist once. And Wendy's and McDonalds was just a single restaurant once. And Walmart was once a small grocery store.

Who knows, maybe I'll have many prosperous years and make some good finacial decisions and my farm will get big and people will hate me for being a cooperation. LOL!