Farmland the next bubble?

[blazespinnaker]

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Infec...ng_as_the.html

It makes a lot of sense, and in many ways is more compelling than alt energy. Just before the general meltdown there was a big problem with food supplies. As things ramp up again, we may see a great demand for farmland.

[aaron]

Re: Farmland the next bubble?

When things ramp up again.... What if that does not happen?

Do populations increase or decrease in a depression? Do people eat more or less? As the average age of the population goes up will calorie requirements go down?

Will food be exportable when oil is expensive?

[santafe2]

Re: Farmland the next bubble?

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InfectiousGreed/~3/MIDl5sTUlbw/farming_as_the.html

It makes a lot of sense, and in many ways is more compelling than alt energy. Just before the general meltdown there was a big problem with food supplies. As things ramp up again, we may see a great demand for farmland.

Farmland is not more, and it is not less compelling than renewable energy. They are components of a sustainable lifestyle. Intellectualizing or measuring their difference is how a money changer sees the world. I hope I'm never in a place where I want to compare and contrast the value of these two. In general, investing is something people do when they've run out of their own ideas.

[aaron]

Re: Farmland the next bubble?

"investing is something people do when they've run out of their own ideas."

That is a a brilliant line.

[santafe2]

Re: Farmland the next bubble?

"investing is something people do when they've run out of their own ideas."

That is a a brilliant line.

It's not a line, it's an idea I think I understand fairly well now. After my first career began to wind down and I sold my business, I spent several years learning to be a good investor. It was not unlike learning to be a good poker player. While I leaned to play that game well enough it was a lonely, zero sum game. When I won, someone else lost. By the time I'd shown up on iTulip, I was bored with it. If you want to credit someone with that line, give it to EJ. This is an iTulip core value and not one I had when I found this place.

[hayekvindicated]

Re: Farmland the next bubble?

It's not a line, it's an idea I think I understand fairly well now. After my first career began to wind down and I sold my business, I spent several years learning to be a good investor. It was not unlike learning to be a good poker player. While I leaned to play that game well enough it was a lonely, zero sum game. When I won, someone else lost. By the time I'd shown up on iTulip, I was bored with it. If you want to credit someone with that line, give it to EJ. This is an iTulip core value and not one I had when I found this place.

Regrettably, this is true. I have thought about setting up my business a number of times - but Ive never been able to summon up the courage to do this.

A smart investor will suffer losses, make some profits but never gets wiped out. An entrepreneur may be very smart but one bad move and he could lose his shirt. People think trading or investing (or speculating) in the markets is stressful. Its nowhere near as stressful as running a business.

[nero3]

Re: Farmland the next bubble?

I suspect farmland, fertilizer, alternative energy, is all part of the same trend. Farmland don't have in it, what is needed to become a big bubble I think (in the sense that valuations get completely crazy). Alternative energy, is more like the big bubble, in what will become many bigger and smaller bubbles, all driven by the weak dollar. If that becomes the trend.

If there is a strong dollar, then, maybe alternative energy still can become a bubble, but not farmland, and fertilizer.

[santafe2]

Re: Farmland the next bubble?

An entrepreneur may be very smart but one bad move and he could lose his shirt. People think trading or investing (or speculating) in the markets is stressful. Its nowhere near as stressful as running a business.

I can't explain my need to leave good jobs to start my 'better version' of that work. I've failed as often as I've succeeded. Early on I was crushed a couple of times but I've learned to put my ego aside and make better decisions. For me, working for someone else and wondering if they're making the right decisions is much more stressful than running my own business and knowing that I have to make the right decisions.

[hayekvindicated]

Re: Farmland the next bubble?

I can't explain my need to leave good jobs to start my 'better version' of that work. I've failed as often as I've succeeded. Early on I was crushed a couple of times but I've learned to put my ego aside and make better decisions. For me, working for someone else and wondering if they're making the right decisions is much more stressful than running my own business and knowing that I have to make the right decisions.

If you work for someone who makes bad decisions, they make those bad decisions with money that isn't your own. So it doesn't matter. In the worst case scenario, the business folds and you move to another employer (with your savings invested wisely invested somewhere).

If you make bad decisions running your own business, you risk destroying your own capital base. Going broke is what has always scared me the most - and that is perhaps a reason Im not an entrepreneur.

[flintlock]

Re: Farmland the next bubble?

If you work for someone who makes bad decisions, they make those bad decisions with money that isn't your own. So it doesn't matter. In the worst case scenario, the business folds and you move to another employer (with your savings invested wisely invested somewhere).

I think this is why the US is in the mess it is in. Corporate executives are too far removed from consequences of their actions. I'm always amazed at how free and easy they are with other people's money.

If you make bad decisions running your own business, you risk destroying your own capital base. Going broke is what has always scared me the most - and that is perhaps a reason Im not an entrepreneur.

Very true, but not all business has to be so capital intensive. Sometimes I think we rely too much on huge capital investment to start up companies. Nobody wants to start from the ground up and build a company slowly. They want instant success. All part of that "I want it now" mentality so prevalent in the US I guess.

A little story.

I was a very minor partner in a very successful CCTV business. My share was given to me as a reward for helping a buddy start up his business. I had no say in its operations. Its demise came when he decided overnight to "expand" and grow his business from about a dozen employees to a national company. He maxed out every dollar he had as well as family members and friends just to build out a fancy office which he really didn't need, as well as pursue a grandiose business plan way above his level of expertise. His rationale was that he needed a place that would impress Senators and Congressmen and other high ranking people. ( He was seeking Homeland Security contracts so prevalent right after 9/11). And congressman John Linder did visit the office for a meeting. ONE TIME! After that nothing ever materialized and he ran out of money to actually spend on the development of his product and filed bankruptcy a year or so later. :eek:

[santafe2]

Re: Farmland the next bubble?

Its demise came when he decided overnight to "expand" and grow his business from about a dozen employees to a national company. He maxed out every dollar he had as well as family members and friends just to build out a fancy office which he really didn't need, as well as pursue a grandiose business plan way above his level of expertise. His rationale was that he needed a place that would impress Senators and Congressmen and other high ranking people. ( He was seeking Homeland Security contracts so prevalent right after 9/11). And congressman John Linder did visit the office for a meeting. ONE TIME! After that nothing ever materialized and he ran out of money to actually spend on the development of his product and filed bankruptcy a year or so later. :eek:

This was an early business lesson for me...cash flow trumps ego. In fact, cash flow trumps everything. But cash flow is tricky, too much can be as bad for business as too little. Too much often leads to malinvestment as it may have in your friend's case.

[metalman]

Re: Farmland the next bubble?

the next bubble is the next bubble...