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Old 04-26-2012, 08:46 PM   #38
Fidatelo
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Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Winnipeg, MB
Quote:
Originally Posted by lungs View Post
Nope.... Those things are pretty damn expensive. Close to $1 million per robot and each robot can handle like 60-70 cows so the investment on my part would be absolutely astronomical.

Those rich Canadian farmers have all the fanciest equipment. No joke either. The quota system makes life very comfortable for the Canadian farmer. It's hard for any young person to put together the capital required to buy any quota though.

Wow, I had no idea about the quota system at all. I did a bit of reading and you're right, it sounds like it would be unbelievably expensive to just up and start a farm.

As your typical socialist Canadian I'm not immediately affronted by the concept of the system, although I think it clearly needs changes if indeed consolidation is progressing as I understand it to be, and if it is as cost-prohibitive as it seems it must be for someone to enter the market. I wonder if the government could somehow provide access to low-cost capital or other incentives to first-time farm buyers or some other definition of a 'startup' individual?

Anyways, interesting stuff, thanks for sharing all your knowledge. As a city-slicker I find it really fascinating to have these little insights into something that is amazingly foreign to me.
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