Family Farm - Mechanize Or Lease?

[Manassas]

I'm in a position I'm sure many others have been and am looking for some advice from experience. Getting ready to retire to wife's family farm in the north. There's some hillside orchard land and fishponds that I plan to work and enjoy. (Are visions of sitting by the pond fishing whilst eating mango etc too idyllic?)

But there's also about 30-35 rai of rice land in the immediate family. My really wonderful brother-in-law handled this for the family, but passed away suddenly. Just like the US and EU, all the kids are heading to college or the city. Nobody is left to work the farm in the traditional manual method. My wife is of the opinion we should buy a tractor and take over. I've been reading posts on this site and am gathering this may be a losing proposition due to prohibitive start up costs. Maybe just let someone else work it for a small percentage of the harvest.

I know the value Thais place on their land and annual supply of rice for the family. But is it worth investing in equipment for ploughing, planting, harvesting and threshing? I'm not looking to make a meaningful profit, but would like to break even.

I'm sure many others have dealt with this situation and would appreciate the wisdom of your experiences.

[Isee]

Short and sweet answer is a big NO

Combine 950,0000 baht

Trailer 60,000 baht

Tractor about 6 to 700,000 baht

There would have to be a shortage of machinery in your area to give you confidence of keeping the machines working all the time. The easy credit with Kubota that's been going on for a while now means everyone is buying a tractor or combine and if they haven't as soon as you come in someone will think its easy money and compete with you.

You can't dip your toes in with what you are thinking, and you will always be buying this or that - mostly gas and parts. Your thoughts of sitting next to a pond fishing and eating mango suggests to me you want a bit of a laid back life, so stay away from machinery. Also you said the land is family land, they won't pay what it costs to have the machines, only part of what it costs for someone else to come in.

Rates differ from place to place but for example:

Rotary about 300 a rai

Harvester around 600 a rai

Hope the above helps and enjoy your fishing. Let someone else work the rice land.

[IsaanAussie]

Isee,

Nailed, 100% correct! There is you answer OP!

[jamescollister]

Have to agree with the above, if you want to waste a lot of money playing farmer fine, but if not keep out of it, Not your business and then it won't be your money. Jim

[IsaanAussie]

Have to agree with the above, if you want to waste a lot of money playing farmer fine, but if not keep out of it, Not your business and then it won't be your money. Jim

Experience teaches some hard lessons and todays is simple. If you fund something like this then once you hand the money over, thats it. It is out of your hands. If you can live without trying to protect your investment then fine. If you need to make sure the money is properly used and the equipment used responsibly then forget it. You will be disappointed at the very least.

[Farma]

Another option is to offer the land to local farmers.

My wife does this with her land. Extended family members farm the land. In return she receives 50% of the harvest.

[AA1]

I would agree with all that has been said above BUT might make a slight difference if we knew which part of the of the North you come from. Most of us here are from Isaan and can only grow one crop of rice a year. If you are in the North but outside Isaan maybe you may be able to grow 2 or even 3 crops a year which could make your idea of mechanisation more interesting.

However, even if this was the case, unless you want to work very hard yourself plus putting up with all the stress of being the central cog of all that's happening, I would stay stay clear and follow the option given by Farma and let others do the work, your In-Law family settle for 50% of the rice for nothing and you can dream by the pond eating your mango enjoying a peaceful retirement!!

Edited November 12, 2012 by AA1

[IsaanAussie]

Another option is to offer the land to local farmers.

My wife does this with her land. Extended family members farm the land. In return she receives 50% of the harvest.

Farma,

You win! Do not lose that opportunity, nett 50% is as good as it can get. The farmer doing the work will only end up with 30 to 40% at absolute best. The catch maybe in the deal struck with the harvest/buy and dry deals that are now in play. Stay on top of just what price is being achieved, or just cop it sweet. Half of bugger all is still better than all of it!

[jamescollister]

Here is today's little story on Thais and machines. Think I posted some of this in the rubber section a few days ago.

Tappers are doing cup rubber, we make enough to live. but don't make enough to put money in the bank for the down time. tell wife to get them back to sheet rubber, doesn't happen, Why I ask are they not back to sheet, lots of reasons come up, finally the real reason comes round. The big rolling machine is no good, makes bad sheet and rips a lot of sheet.

Machines over 4 years old, no problem until this year. Everyone wants to go back to small machines, wife without telling me goes and buy motors for small hand rollers.

I'm banging my head against a tree, have a foreman who's telling me the machine is no good, I can't understand how it works fine for years and is crap now.

Foreman speaks good English, wife went to Uni in OZ doing English, finally the truth emerges, no one knows how to set the rollers, the guy that did it left last year and he didn't know how, but just set things up by line of sight.

Phone number is on the side of the machine, with wife's help phone up and get the settings, 4 mill x2 , 3 mil x2 and 2 mil space last 2 rollers. Piece of cake, switch the machine on all works well, but I note the water that lubricates the rollers and rubber is not spraying as it should. So pull the tap off looking for blockages, what do I find, but plastic. Why is there plastic blocking the tap, because the spray was getting the worker wet.

No one would tell me that they didn't know how to set the machine, I am a farang and must be stupid, and they are Thai and can not admit they don't know everything.

My fault I should have been watching, but I am usually watching for theft not stupidity.

Now that's a simple machine not a tractor or harvester. Jim

Her

[Manassas]

Gents - Thanks for confirming what my reading indicated. I couldn't understand how you could drop hundreds of thousands of baht into machinery with the current market price and yield per rai and come anywhere near breaking even. (We're in Lanna and get only 1 crop per season) I think we will go with making a deal for someone else in the extended family to work the rice land and hope for a deal approaching 50% - but I'm told our area is a much smaller percentage if the worker pays all expenses.

And Isee, you are right, my key word is retired. I have no illusion about becoming a rice farmer. However, I do know a bit about orchards and will work that purely as a hobby selling the excess in the local market. I will need some sort of small 4x4 to haul stuff up and down and keep the grass down. My thought on the grass was to put a few goats in the orchard, but I'm told they will get stolen at night if left unattended. I have much to learn and really appreciate the people on this site.

[Farma]

IssanAussie we don't need the income from the rice and I think the high percentage of the harvest is the family's way of chipping in to help the patriarch. The land is around 15 rai and most of the wifes share is given to him to make his life easy. Personally there's too much fiddling around and hard work growing rice so I stay out of the scene.

(if i get a chance i might catch up with you in jan for another beer or 2)

[Isee]

We are lucky in our area in Yasothon we have a minimum of 2 if not 3 crops a year simply because of water access. The downside of that is land is hard to come by and when it does it gets snapped up quickly. Not all of Issan is a dry barren place, but in saying that, the next moobaan over can only grow once a year.

I would agree with all that has been said above BUT might make a slight difference if we knew which part of the of the North you come from. Most of us here are from Isaan and can only grow one crop of rice a year. If you are in the North but outside Isaan maybe you may be able to grow 2 or even 3 crops a year which could make your idea of mechanisation more interesting.

[Isee]

Reminds me of an incident where the workers put cardboard to block the airvents inside the truck cab because it was too cold when driving. Couldn't work out they could:

(a) open the windows;

( adjust the temperature with the red and blue dial.

Farang jumps in the truck and wonders why the aircon isn't working properly to discover....TiT

Why is there plastic blocking the tap, because the spray was getting the worker wet.

No one would tell me that they didn't know how to set the machine, I am a farang and must be stupid, and they are Thai and can not admit they don't know everything.

[IsaanAussie]

IssanAussie we don't need the income from the rice and I think the high percentage of the harvest is the family's way of chipping in to help the patriarch. The land is around 15 rai and most of the wifes share is given to him to make his life easy. Personally there's too much fiddling around and hard work growing rice so I stay out of the scene.

(if i get a chance i might catch up with you in jan for another beer or 2)

I have as much chance of stopping my inlaws growing rice as they have of stopping me being around for that beer in January.

[IsaanAussie]

Thais and equipment, nightmare material. Here is one of my bad dreams. I purchased a good quality high pressure washer for the sty and around the farm. I have had it for 4 years and it never missed a beat until our man started using it. A day later, "Boss, mai me nam!" I have a look at the gun and it has been taken apart, all, yes every bloody one of the seals is buggered. The long and the short is no water came out when he pulled the trigger. He didnt think that the water tank may be empty, or the hose had an airlock, oh no, much easier to start on the 17,000 baht machine and destroy that. The tank was empty, the washer was stuffed. New seals, mai me, Mai Pen Rai......Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Heres another, my tractor is old but had been well maintained and was quite functional with a little care. BIL takes it to plough a paddy and decides to drop a tree that is in the way. So to maximise the fulcrum effort he attachs a chain to the tree and the very end of the plough and with a combination of driving in an arc and using the hydraulics he figures he can pull the tree over. Only manages to pull the guts out of the hydraulic pump. "Rot old already, Mai Pen Rai... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.