I’m dizzy from looking at numbers. Yes, the kitchen table has papers covering almost all of it. There is one open space because I did get one bunch of figures finished. There are even two calculators on the table because I use one to add something, then I add it again and get a different answer. That’s when I use the other calculator to be sure at least one of them is working, and finally get the end result. Sometimes it’s a matter of something like 36 cents off, but because there is no paper roll to look at to check what was entered, I start over again.
I bet there are a lot of people out there nodding their heads and saying, “Yep, I know what she is talking about!”
I think I’m going to be that uneasy about artificial intelligence that people are talking about now. Let me give you an example: Julie had an old picture and she asked “AI” to clean it up which they did, but they put extra people in the picture and moved them around position wise, and even changed their clothing. So much for history!
I just finished reading Farm Bureau’s publication Farm Week, and it was depressing to read how the January yield report that was expected to mostly be neutral turned out to be a big grizzly bear in the room. One magazine article even said it could be possible that the price of corn would go to the mid $3.00 mark. The article put a time line on that it could be when the report of planting intentions comes out in March.
A couple weeks ago, a friend asked if you could make $9,000 an acre by not planting a crop. I’m guessing he was asking because he had talked to someone who may have been offered that amount for a solar installation or windmills. Anyway, I said, “Well, let me tell you at the price of corn today at $4.26 a bushel and say you were blessed to have raised a crop of 250 bushels an acre, multiply it out, and then deduct all the expenses of seed, fertilizer, chemicals, planting and harvest cost, taxes on the land, perhaps interest payments, not even counting the long hours and labor, and there’s your answer.”
All the headlines about the farm economy is sadly true. On an up note, there is always hope. Hope that the cattle prices and hog prices stay up there. Reminds me of a joke I read: A farmer was asked about the primary use of cowhide. He said, “My paw always told me that the main use of the hide of a cow was to hold the cow together.”
Sharon Chenoweth is a resident and farmer of McDonough County. Her column focuses on rural life and will be featured every other week in the Community News Brief Friday Edition.
