News
Farmer’s sons learning through tough times
A Missouri farmer says his three sons who farm with him are learning some tough lessons right now. Gary Porter and his sons, who are each in their 20s, grow corn and soybeans and have a cow-calf operation in north Missouri (Mercer). Porter tells Brownfield there is no lack of challenges, made worse by the pandemic, “Oh, it’s horrible,” Porter tells Brownfield Ag News, “The boys sold the calves, they took ’em to the sale barn and you know the price that they got out of their calves is not enough to pay for the rent for the pasture and the cow payment.”
But, Porter says his sons have some side business to help them through, “They’ve got a little trucking company that they haul some peas and stuff out of North Dakota and that’s actually making them some money right now.”
Porter says they’re using the profits from their other work to pay for their calf crop, “You know, it’s a good learning thing for the boys to watch them say ‘well, this didn’t work and this is not going to work at that price.’ It’s kind of neat to see the boys pencil that out and seeing what works and what doesn’t work. But, it’s kind of hard for their mom and I sitting here watching them.”
Porter says they’d all like to see some good times and are looking forward to this fall.
^ Interview with Gary Porter ^
