Farmland Bubble Coming? Massive food shortage? Government control of crops?

Investors have been buying up fertile farm land for the past few years citing the ever increasing demand for food and the ever decreasing amount of farmable land.

Sitting at record highs for a while now analysts are beginning to expect a bursting of the bubble.

So all that acreage held by investors will no longer be profitable to work.

Because it is food will the shortfall be made up by more agri-subsidies? A corn bailout?

Or will the fed come in and buy it all up putting the worlds food production int he hands of politicians and Monsanto-esque big agri businesses?

Corn Belt Farmland bubble

Feds Buying up distressed Farmland

If you dont have a garden now (if you're even still allowed to have one where you are) get going on establishing one.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Scary stuff.

With T-Bone pickins claiming water rights and profiting off of something that should be extremely low-cost or free, and now the feds and agribusiness gobbling up farms as we have seen (through GMO lawsuits, etc) now seems like the time to start doing some of your own gardening.

Check these out if your interested in gardening in a suburban environment.

Square Foot Gardening

It can even be done on a patio if you live in an apartment. Also of note is the defeat of Prop 37 in california. There are so many benefits to growing your own food and/or going with local farmers instead of major supermarkets.
Reed and heed guys - it's not hard and the rewards are almost endless.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Well I guess I will begin looking for some land locally...

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


what ?

how do you come to this conclusion :

So all that acreage held by investors will no longer be profitable to work.

weather land is profitable to work [ for agriculture ] - has zero to do with land values [ unless there is another use you can turn it to ]

the profitability [ to WORK ] of agricultural land is the difference between production costs [ seed , ploughing , fertiliser , herbicide / pesticide , harvesting cost etc ] - set against market price of the crop

you seem to be assuming that profitability is dependant on the relationship between market price and land value

this is only the case - IF you can use the land for some other use - that is more profitable than agriculture - ie building houses

I'm confused they are not going to let the land sit vacant . Another farmer will rent it and make money. I guess i don't think you know what your trying to say.

The US is the tops in farming efficency we can feed our own no problem and still have a lot to sell. Even with the drought this year buyers and sellers moved the products by the train load across to wherever it was needed. A friend down the road in Michigan is processing Washington apples .

It's interesting that you started this thread, OP, because we live in a heavy cotton-producing region. The cotton prices this year are below break-even for the local farmers, but they are forced to sell their crop right now because they need the money, the banks are barking at their heels. The ones who can afford not to sell are doing it anyway, as storing it costs a fortune.

There is a lot of farmland here locally that has gone up for sale. The only problem is, out here, it is difficult to grow most crops. Only a few things grow well in this high desert environment.

I had been thinking that they are manipulating the cotton prices to drive the local farmers to sell their land dirt-cheap, that is the only thing that makes sense.

That is why we bought 5 acres out here, and I purchased a bunch of heirloom seeds. I can grow some things out in the field, and others, either in a hothouse, or on my porch in pots. I keep thinking about that old movie, "Soylent Green". In this movie, all people are crowded into cities, and nobody is allowed to live in the country, because all that land is owned by the government for farming. Only the very rich can afford the things grown on the land, the rest are stuck eating crackers made of out of dead people. Agenda 21, in a nutshell...well, not the people crackers. That'll come later.

reply to post by mikellmikell


reply to post by ignorant_ape


Guess my thinking is that the article mentions these investors arent all well-to-do types and a number of them are just regular folks taking advantage of low interest rates and expecting to generate an income who dont know anything about farming.

Not unlike the many many suckers who bought income properties or homes to flip during the housing bubble.

If these investors cannot afford a hike in interest rates, if purchased on an adjustable, or a hike in property taxes, or cannot find somebody or some company to lease the land they'll be left holding a huge chunk of land that they cannot afford to keep and would potentially have difficulty unloading until it falls into foreclosure and Monsanto scoops it up for pennies an acre.