What do corn farmers do all day? July 2, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 3 commentsJust watched the documentary “King Corn”. The directors decide to grow an acre of corn and in the end only turn a profit thanks to a subsidy from the government.
In the movie the directors acted as though this were surprising - but it really shouldn’t be. In a commoditized, efficient market, profit margins will be low. Since the government subsidy is factored into the price of corn, the price is set exactly where the subsidized supply demand curves intersect and therefore farmers barely scrape by with a small profit - and only after the subsidy. Without the subsidy, some farmers would stop producing corn and we would move back down the supply/demand curve so that corn once again becomes just marginally profitable at the new lower (subsidy-free) price.
For me, the really surprising part of the movie was how little physical work a farmer actually does. The directors make it seem like producing corn is the easiest job in the world. I figured the movie was blowing things out of proportion for effect, but I found this interview with one of the directors:
Curt: The most amazing thing to us was how little physical work is involved in the modern farm. All told, I think we spent about two hours over the course of the year…growing five tons of food!
So now I’m left wondering, what is that modern corn farmers actually do on a daily basis? Google isn’t any help, does anyone know?
Your thoughts?