Most processors are a big boy and produce their own commodities, but also buy independent stuff outside their own. They charge us a fee to process our stuff so they make money in that fashion as well. For example, the price of almonds was between $1.60 and $2/lbs last year for the grower. But I have to pay the buyer something like 40 cents/lbs to hull the shell and process the nut. Then, anyone that's bought almonds in the last 10 years knows you pay like $6-$8 in the grocery store for them. Pretty easy to figure out why they fight to sign us up right? 

The second half of your questions is more complicated. I'll try to explain it succinctly. 

Our nut crops are unique in that there's no real competition for them. It's just how much can we sell vs what we produce. Last year we produced a record 3.2 billion lbs of almonds and the price almost dropped in half. This year it's forecasted around 2.8b and the price is easing back up. And last year was probably our peak. Production will level off and begin falling due to water shortages. 

Raisins we don't just compete against ourselves. Grapes can grow anywhere between the 30th and 50th parallels. Turkey actually outproduces us by a bit, and now China is right there too. The difference is they produce a lot of C grade raisins, and our B&B is usually pretty healthy. So there's a little bit of a premium for Ca raisins. And if one region happens to have some sort of natural disaster, the price can really swing. 

In a fresh market crop like cherries, it's a little different still. It's time to the market for us. Washington is the best, but we're the fastest. So how much of your cherries can you get off ripe before Washington fires up harvest? If your a month ahead of them you're rich, if you're a week ahead, call in the gunnysackers and start a roadside stand. 

And yes, they all forecast sales, and the previous seasons carryover plays a large part in it as well. Turkey produced 250k tons and we have 100k tons of unsold raisins? Price is dropping in half. Turkey had a hard freeze and is producing 100k tons and we have 50k of carryover, record price! Stuff like that. 

And yes also, the processors will absolutely leave you high and dry if they feel they don't need your crop and you don't have a long-term contract in place. Or actually more realistically, they'll just offer you a price 30% lower than it should be. That's why when I was saying is grew on "cash contracts" for 5 years it's super scary. I negotiate a new cash price each year right before harvest. Luckily I've only had 1 bad experience with that a long time ago when I tried to do organic wine.

So many questions.  
As far as the nuts go, do they only buy the unshelled  nuts? Can one hull  them and avoid the .40/lb fee? And if so, I’m sure the machines that do that cost a pretty penny.  Is it worthwhile to have the machinery to process the nuts and sell higher? I’m guessing not otherwise that would be the thing to do. I’ve seen too much on tv about similar industries.  Seems to be the norm to grow and sell then let the other guy do to it what they want. But one has to wonder, if they want “x” to “y” so they can “z”, then “y” would be more profitable.

Almonds are the least restrictive crop in that way. You can buy your own huller for 50k and do it yourself. Or send to one huller and another processor. Kinda whatever. I think I'm probably contracted into the one guy for 3 more years in exchange for the trees. Not really sure though. 

I'm in favor of buying a huller but I'd have to convince a few guys to do it with me to make it cost effective, and they always turn me down. The rest of the processing stuff is so incredibly sophisticated and cost-prohibitive, it's a big swing for the fences. People try, and fail every handful of years as well. And these are guys that run other plants for years and years before they try doing their own. 

The good thing is just enough succeed to prevent those guys from being able to cartel up like some of the other commodities have.

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Very informative and interesting, SF.

Anyone remember this? 

'You put a seed in, you put dirt on top': Bloomberg suggests farming is easy in resurfaced comments | Daily Mail Online

Ha, actually never heard that before. The funny part is open ground farming like in the Midwest I feel is way harder. They make way less per acres, way thinner margin of error, and any slight miscalculation will put you in a big hole.

Like if I calculate my groundspeed a little wrong I end up wasting 10 gallons of fertilizer. Those guys will end up wasting like a 1000 gallons if they mess up. They have little flowmeter computers that tell them every second what they're using up in the tank.

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Very informative and interesting, SF.

Anyone remember this? 

'You put a seed in, you put dirt on top': Bloomberg suggests farming is easy in resurfaced comments | Daily Mail Online

That was the most insulting, condescending, idiotic and ignorant thing to ever come out of someone's mouth as far as I'm concerned.  I don't want to turn this political, but many people don't realize that it takes a lot of knowledge and skill to farm successfully.  Many will look at the huge number that a farmer "made" after selling a crop, but they fail to realize how much a farmer had to spend to grow the crop.  Equipment isn't cheap, maintenance doesn't do itself and if there is a break down you can't exactly call AAA and expect them to be there promptly.  While many farms are "multi-million" dollar operations, the farmer actually ends up earning a very modest income.

The same goes for ranchers that raise and grow much of our meat.  Cows don't take care of themselves.  They do require immunizations and other care, plus feeding them isn't just a matter of "letting them graze".  Horses don't "just work" they require training which takes time and effort and some of it can be painful.  They also require vet bills much higher than a typical pet such as a dog or cat.

Farmers and ranchers are up there in my "respect list" along with first responders.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

After about 13.5 hours, I’m finally back inside the house. My wife and kid were help. That’s about all I can say. I wouldn’t hire them girls. But the moral support was amazing. I had a hard time giving directions. My wife is in a position where she is the one giving direction. But c’mon! This is in my wheelhouse! No she goes off and does something else. The insubordination was high today. Ugh. But it was an amazing day. I went a tad bit overboard in trimming the conservation area that is technically within my property. With the yard waste being nonexistent here lately, we did what we knew best. We took our patios built in fire pit and Hilliard it up! I’m not sure if we would’ve been able to load a truck and one of the trailers I have stored at my place to make it to the dump. So we had the worlds smallest burn pile in our fire pit. I knew what I cut burned hot and fast, but about 8-9 hours in I was able to burn all I cut down. I wish I had acreage. We could’ve had a nice bonfire. All in all, was a fantastic day. Which makes me question how much I do or don’t like my job. I’m a worker. It was pleasure ale to work all day but at mya house without any time restrictions. Sucks I’m done. I guess tomorrow I’ll have to watch the damn game.

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Very informative and interesting, SF.

Anyone remember this? 

'You put a seed in, you put dirt on top': Bloomberg suggests farming is easy in resurfaced comments | Daily Mail Online

Ha, actually never heard that before. The funny part is open ground farming like in the Midwest I feel is way harder. They make way less per acres, way thinner margin of error, and any slight miscalculation will put you in a big hole.

Like if I calculate my groundspeed a little wrong I end up wasting 10 gallons of fertilizer. Those guys will end up wasting like a 1000 gallons if they mess up. They have little flowmeter computers that tell them every second what they're using up in the tank.

I had the opportunity way back in my younger years to work on an "open ground" farm/ranch like you describe.  Of course, this was before the days of "double cropping" and our crop was alfalfa.  We used to cut with a sickle mower and bale with a square baler.  I used to be able to throw square bales around like they were nothing.  Nowadays I probably would need help to move one.  We had cows and sometimes they would get out and we would have to ride through the "woods" to round them up.  The "woods" were basically small cedar trees along with some pine trees (we called them pinion) and a lot of cactus, yucca and sage brush.

Just guessing, but I estimate that we probably used around 30% of the alfalfa that we raised and sold the rest as hay.

Oh for my younger years...

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

Very informative and interesting, SF.

Anyone remember this? 

'You put a seed in, you put dirt on top': Bloomberg suggests farming is easy in resurfaced comments | Daily Mail Online

That was the most insulting, condescending, idiotic and ignorant thing to ever come out of someone's mouth as far as I'm concerned.  I don't want to turn this political, but many people don't realize that it takes a lot of knowledge and skill to farm successfully.  Many will look at the huge number that a farmer "made" after selling a crop, but they fail to realize how much a farmer had to spend to grow the crop.  Equipment isn't cheap, maintenance doesn't do itself and if there is a break down you can't exactly call AAA and expect them to be there promptly.  While many farms are "multi-million" dollar operations, the farmer actually ends up earning a very modest income.

The same goes for ranchers that raise and grow much of our meat.  Cows don't take care of themselves.  They do require immunizations and other care, plus feeding them isn't just a matter of "letting them graze".  Horses don't "just work" they require training which takes time and effort and some of it can be painful.  They also require vet bills much higher than a typical pet such as a dog or cat.

Farmers and ranchers are up there in my "respect list" along with first responders.

People that think like that, think of growing things in terms of their backyard gardens or something. Yeah, there might not be a whole lot more to it when your growing 6 tomato plants but it's a little different if you have 50,000 vines. 

Just calculating the water usage each week alone takes some serious scratchpad work. Can't just turn on the garden hose for 20 minutes lol.

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Ha, actually never heard that before. The funny part is open ground farming like in the Midwest I feel is way harder. They make way less per acres, way thinner margin of error, and any slight miscalculation will put you in a big hole.

Like if I calculate my groundspeed a little wrong I end up wasting 10 gallons of fertilizer. Those guys will end up wasting like a 1000 gallons if they mess up. They have little flowmeter computers that tell them every second what they're using up in the tank.

I had the opportunity way back in my younger years to work on an "open ground" farm/ranch like you describe.  Of course, this was before the days of "double cropping" and our crop was alfalfa.  We used to cut with a sickle mower and bale with a square baler.  I used to be able to throw square bales around like they were nothing.  Nowadays I probably would need help to move one.  We had cows and sometimes they would get out and we would have to ride through the "woods" to round them up.  The "woods" were basically small cedar trees along with some pine trees (we called them pinion) and a lot of cactus, yucca and sage brush.

Just guessing, but I estimate that we probably used around 30% of the alfalfa that we raised and sold the rest as hay.

Oh for my younger years...

They still do it like that around here but it's a dying crop. The margin is a razors edge. 

And yeah, those bastards weigh like 75lbs when they're fresh cut, keeps the back strong haha.

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The football gods have been good to us today. We have a digital antenna but can only ever get ABC and CBS due to trees and hills and distance and there is no guarantee it will be a clear broadcast.

Today we have been able to watch the Steelers game on CBS, the Bucs game on FOX and now the Packers game on NBC. I have exactly no idea how we managed to get FOX and NBC today but I'm ecstatic.

ETA: Holy cats that GB/49ers game! Down. To. The. Wire. 

So thankful the stars aligned so I could watch some good games/teams play today.

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OK, it's 2am, just finished watching The Crow with Brandon Lee on Amazon Prime. Smoking the days last cigarette and finishing up a Southern Comfort and ginger ale for a night cap. (I Drank 2 Millers before that) So... as soon as I finish this cigarette and drink, I'm off to bed. Hopefully I can sleep a little tonight, my insomnia has been getting real bad lately. Things have got to get better soon.

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Instead of a sign that says "Do Not Disturb" I need one that says "Already Disturbed Proceed With Caution."

And just like that my antenna no longer picks up FOX and NBC. It was good while it lasted.

Drifter, I feel you on the insomnia. I've lived with it most of my life and my recent bout with covid made it worse. I woke up this morning feeling like I hadn't slept at all. I still feel like I could go back to bed and sleep but know as soon as I do I'll be wide awake. The tandem of insomnia and fatigue is a real buzzkill.

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And just like that my antenna no longer picks up FOX and NBC. It was good while it lasted.

Drifter, I feel you on the insomnia. I've lived with it most of my life and my recent bout with covid made it worse. I woke up this morning feeling like I hadn't slept at all. I still feel like I could go back to bed and sleep but know as soon as I do I'll be wide awake. The tandem of insomnia and fatigue is a real buzzkill.

If you want, and if you have a good cell and service, I can send a link or two.. Just don't let the government or the NFL know you're watching this way 

I have to watch this way because Xfinity still doesn't carry The ACC Network..

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And just like that my antenna no longer picks up FOX and NBC. It was good while it lasted.

Drifter, I feel you on the insomnia. I've lived with it most of my life and my recent bout with covid made it worse. I woke up this morning feeling like I hadn't slept at all. I still feel like I could go back to bed and sleep but know as soon as I do I'll be wide awake. The tandem of insomnia and fatigue is a real buzzkill.

If you want, and if you have a good cell and service, I can send a link or two.. Just don't let the government or the NFL know you're watching this way 

I have to watch this way because Xfinity still doesn't carry The ACC Network..

Hit me up. Say, did you order steaks from that place I told you about?

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Had a hell of a day.... Yeah Yeah Yeah...... I know it's a freaking Monday but still....... This one ranks up there in the top 5 so far........ I think that's why I'm shooting straight shots of Southern Comfort tonight and washing them down with a Miller High Life........ Boiler Makers the hard way........ Last night drink was made with the last of my 100 proof stuff, the liquor store delivered that by mistake...... That's why I added ginger ale and ice to it....... Picked up a bottle of the regular stuff today...... At least I can take a straight shot of that and not cough my lungs up...... I'll probably get a good buzz and hit the bed....... If the liquor doesn't work, I have some of that special medicine... it's green and leafy and makes for a good night sleep......

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Instead of a sign that says "Do Not Disturb" I need one that says "Already Disturbed Proceed With Caution."

Had a hell of a day.... Yeah Yeah Yeah...... I know it's a freaking Monday but still....... This one ranks up there in the top 5 so far........ I think that's why I'm shooting straight shots of Southern Comfort tonight and washing them down with a Miller High Life........ Boiler Makers the hard way........ Last night drink was made with the last of my 100 proof stuff, the liquor store delivered that by mistake...... That's why I added ginger ale and ice to it....... Picked up a bottle of the regular stuff today...... At least I can take a straight shot of that and not cough my lungs up...... I'll probably get a good buzz and hit the bed....... If the liquor doesn't work, I have some of that special medicine... it's green and leafy and makes for a good night sleep......

I’m sorry you’re going through this.  No meds that can help? 

Have you had any kinky sexual encounters where she bit you?  Perhaps you’re now vampire? Think of the possibilities!

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New Space Force dress and PT uniforms. I like them. 

I prefer the uniforms from Space Quest.

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When you get into the endzone, act like you've been there before.

Flipping trays for the rest of my days 

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Has anyone heard the new Morgan&Morgan radio spots? They’re putting ambulance chasing slogans to children’s songs now. So far I’ve heard the bastardized versions or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and I’m a Little Teapot.

Good gawd our society has become so infantilized.

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Has anyone heard the new Morgan&Morgan radio spots? They’re putting ambulance chasing slogans to children’s songs now. So far I’ve heard the bastardized versions or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and I’m a Little Teapot.

Good gawd our society has become so infantilized.

I have a whole bunch of new ambulance chaser commercials that I've grown accustomed to out here.

Angel Reyes - "Your 5-Star Injury Attorney"
Jim Adler - "The Texas Hammer"
Noteboom - "The Law Firm"
Thompson Law Injury Lawyers - Ryan "The Lion" Thompson

As with Jax, they fill the airwaves with ads during the morning news shows from 6:00 - 10:00.

My personal favorite is Jim Adler (commercial linked).  His brother is on board now with the firm.

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Has anyone heard the new Morgan&Morgan radio spots? They’re putting ambulance chasing slogans to children’s songs now. So far I’ve heard the bastardized versions or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and I’m a Little Teapot.

Good gawd our society has become so infantilized.

I’ve heard them, they kind of creep me out.

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What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is agoin' on here???

Has anyone heard the new Morgan&Morgan radio spots? They’re putting ambulance chasing slogans to children’s songs now. So far I’ve heard the bastardized versions or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and I’m a Little Teapot.

Good gawd our society has become so infantilized.

I’ve heard them, they kind of creep me out.

They’re downright weird. I can’t imagine who thought those would be a good idea for a commercial.

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Has anyone heard the new Morgan&Morgan radio spots? They’re putting ambulance chasing slogans to children’s songs now. So far I’ve heard the bastardized versions or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and I’m a Little Teapot.

Good gawd our society has become so infantilized.

I haven't but I've noticed that any time I see that smug buttface on the telly I scream "screw you John Morgan!" before he even gets word on out his blubbery mouthhole.

My favorites are the ones where he attempts to be religious just to win over the churchyfolk looking for a quick settlement. "Mah favorite bah bool story is [blerp]." No explanation why, what relevance it has, or how it makes him a better person.

I mean, he could have worked it into his ads better:
"I personally think turning water to wine is a useful skill. If you've been hit by a drunk driver, call me at 1-800-BURP-DERP"

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I’ve heard them, they kind of creep me out.

They’re downright weird. I can’t imagine who thought those would be a good idea for a commercial.

He probably sings these to his grandkids before they go to bed.

*shudders*

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