#Farming Archives - Page 3 of 4

I have a quick word of advice to the young cotton farmer.

In short: What you are looking for requires time and patience.

My point here could be advice for the young anything, if you want to know the truth.

Take a deep breath and understand this: The key to mastering all skills is found in time and patience.

If success were easy, everyone would do it. It takes effort. That fact works to your advantage because it keeps lazy people out of the game.

-Scott Adams, How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big

This is the same in cotton farming. No one is born better at it than anyone else.

Because prodigy is a myth.

Now that is not to say that others can’t have better water, or better weather, or more money, or whatever.

But instead of worrying about what you can’t control, what if you focused on what you could control.

What if you resolved to get a little bit better each year?

What if this year you took an economics class or studied for your Series 3 exam to better understand the markets?
What if the year after that you took a soil class?
What if in year three you went without that new truck and invested it back into your farm?

See, success looks a lot more like laying bricks than it does winning the lottery.

In fact, I think, you should quit worrying about that big break entirely.

We love to praise the “Big Break,” that wonderful moment when the stars align and serendipity visits you, making you an instant success. We wait for such moments, even long for them. But here’s the truth: the Big Break is a myth.

-Jeff Goins, Real Artists Don’t Starve

The truth is, there is no new app or system that is going to suddenly solve all of your problems.

A vocation is a long game – and focusing on the short term is not going to get you where you want to go.

Like I already said, the only thing that will work is a work ethic grounded in time and patience.

Do not forget the power in persisting, in doing a little bit better than most, for a little bit longer than most.

After all, every day that you keep going is one more day that someone else gave up.

Extraordinary benefits accrue to the tiny minority of people who are able to push just a tiny bit longer than most.

–Seth Godin, The Dip

You can do it.

We’re all waiting to see what you are made of.

This post was first published by CottonGrower.com.

Roger Neitsch Answers 10 Questions On Farming

This is part of the series: 10 Questions Answered By A Farmer

1. Who are you and how long have you been farming?

Roger Neitsch. I have been farming on my own for about 38 years. I farmed with my family for about 15 years before that. Really, all my life.

2. Where do you farm?

Gaines County, Texas, about 80 miles south of Lubbock.

3. What are you growing this year?

Elbon Rye and Pecans.

4. What has the weather been like?

It’s been good. We had dry weather during the pecan harvest and have had some beneficial rainfall since then.

5. Any yield or price predictions for the year? If you have already harvested, do you care to share them?

We have young orchards at about 50 percent max production. That comes out to around the 1,500 pounds per acre range, and we will probably average $3.00 per pound on our pecan price.

6. What was the best year you have had farming, and why?

There were a few years in the early 90’s that we had both great crops and prices under the old peanut quota program. We did very well those years.

7. What was the worst year you have had farming, and why?

1985. We grew peanuts for a Southwest-Spanish pool at the time. Prices had been fantastic, but we were told to not plant peanuts that year due to a large surplus. Well, we planted peanuts anyway, and had the best peanut crop in our history. At the same time, we had 400 feeder steers on pasture and cattle prices tanked under a dairy buy-out program. We lost more money than you can shake a stick at.

8. If you weren’t farming, what would you be doing?

I thought about joining the military out of high school, but I have not seriously considered anything else. The long hours is tough farming, but there is a lot of opportunity and you have the advantage of being your own boss.

9. If you were giving a young farmer, just starting out, advice today, what would it be?

I would say that a young farmer needs to be dedicated. They need to be sure this is what they want to do for a long time. It is not a fast trip. I mean, some years you will doubt you make minimum wage. Slow steady growth is the way to go though. Be patient and grow slowly. It will pay-off. Just don’t overextend your debt and expand too quickly. On a good year it can work great, but on a bad year debt will take you down twice as fast. Gaining equity year in and year out is the long-term key to financial security in farming.

10. Any tractor brand you want to publicly endorse?

Sure! John Deere all the way! They can sponsor me anytime they want to.

If you are a farmer and would be kind enough to do this interview, please answer the questions above and email them to me: sterlingterrellAToutlookDOTcom

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