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To: Raymond Duray who wrote (1444)	3/4/2001 12:26:40 PM
From: Joan Osland Graffius	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12411

Good morning Ray, OT The farmer in the heart land of the US as you note is an interesting human being. First of all they are entrepreneurs and the biggest gamblers in the world. Who would throw the kind of money they do at a hope that the weather will be good to them or that the grasshoppers will not show up. Things are not as bad as you think they are. Most farmers are invested, i.e. own, the elevators that transact the sales and ship their products. ADM pays for shipping and handling. <g> So they do own two levels of the business chain. Also a well capitalized farmer does not sell his product when prices are low. These seeds can be stored for centuries. Often grain gets stored for 6 or so years. The farmers have support prices, which flies in the face of free markets, and the government does pay the farmer to store some of the products, which is another stream of revenues. BTW, the sugar beet farmers own their own refineries. My father was an interesting character, but not unlike his neighbors. He did not trust the fiat currency system and when he needed cash we would sell grain to obtain currency for purchases. He would put cash in the bank and when the account was in need of more the banker would call the farm and let him know. There were no check book ledgers kept at the house and no overdrawn account costs at the bank. <g> These people did not loose any money when the banks closed during the 1930's. The Cargill boys today are much more in the business of selling the pesticides, weed control products and fertilizer to the farmer. They have large central storage sites in the US close to the water ways where they hold products for shipping overseas. This product is generally for government transactions to other countries and I have no idea where the money is made, but I am sure Cargill does well. Just rambling, Joan