The political economy of calves romping in the barnyard

I’ve got a hundred acres here that I lease to a local beef farmer for $1,500 per year.

A few miles south, where the soil is richer and the land flatter, the cash croppers will pay $15,000 per year for the same acreage.

I’m somewhat acquainted with the economics of old-school beef farming. In a good year, a beef farmer breaks even. Virtually everybody in beef farming around here, where open pasture grazing is the norm, can only afford to be beef farmers because they are mortgage free due to having inherited their acreage.

Meanwhile, the dairy guys are still, for now, protected by quotas, although Trudeau’s neolib regime is working hard to undo that. The cash croppers are 100% wedded to Big Ag and Big Chem and run operations that are totally at the mercy of big corporations and global markets.

Those calves romping in my barnyard don’t know they’ll be burger patties within a couple years, but in the meantime, they’re enjoying life.

Watching them kick up their heels as they enjoy life is more than enough compensation for the subsidy I provide their owners.