Old-School Farming vs. New-School Prices: Whoa!

So many people out there have no idea how their food gets to them. In Montana, people are much better informed because it's so close to home, but others have no clue. This weekend in Huntley, it's the 35th annual Threshing Bee. It's an opportunity for young and old to see how the old-timers used to farm with steam engines, early model tractors and implements. There's tons of fun for the kids with great food like homemade ice cream and steam engine corn on the cob.

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It was a much tougher life with much longer days and harder conditions, but those people made money in those days. The other day, I bought a new wobble box for my cycle drive on my header, and it cost me $3,000. In 1941, you could buy a brand new McCormick WD-9 tractor for $1,945. Even later, in 1951, a new one was $3,845.00. Today, new pieces of farm equipment like combines, sprayers and larger tractors start at about $750,000 and up. That's right—hard to believe when the prices farmers get now aren't a whole lot more than in the '60s and '70s.

The average life span of a man in those days was about 50, so we've added years to our lives, but it's tough in today's economy. The money isn't being made by the producer but by the people after that who get it to your table. Things were much simpler back then, and people always knew they could make it if the weather just cooperated. It's a totally different animal now, and you can see the difference yourself this weekend in Huntley.

See ya tomorrow at 5!