Country Commerce

Discussions about money are a little different in farm and ranch country than in the concrete jungles of the big cities. Listen in on conversations at the local eateries and the difference is clear. Oh, you will hear the same complaints about the price of gas and groceries. The same head shaking over how much a truck or car sets a person back these days. And the cost of a doctor visit or hospital stay are a hot topic no matter where you live. Discussions of government waste of our tax dollars, and just how many zeroes are in a trillion, can be heard anywhere if you stop long enough to listen. There are a few things about commerce you hear in a country cafe or feed store that are unique to rural America though.

The price per ton of soybean meal, the cost of a bushel of corn, are always a major concern. Hay prices per ton; is it good quality, are you buying large square or round bales? These items are an area of influence in rural America. Along with the weather, bean meal, hay and corn prices directly affect feed costs to ranchers and farmers raising livestock. It oft determines how much livestock they'll raise, and that reaches every meat and poultry item on America's grocery shopping list eventually.

 Farmers who strictly raise grain are interested in their profit margins too of course. Tractors, combines, grain wagons, and a host of other equipment costs, can be heard discussed around a table full of coffee drinking men with leather cased pliers or Leathermen hanging from their belts. How big will the crop be this year in Brazil or some other grain producing country is also a question.Whether it's the price of barbed wire or cattle panels, feeder calves or bred heifer prices, a pair of work boots or Carharts, it's still all about the money. And its about family livelihoods.

But, here at the  Chicken Ranch, we have an additional form of commerce... good old fashioned bartering.

Our hens lay very large brown eggs. The hens are not in commercial cages. They are allowed to roam some, and we don't overcrowd them, so we don't have to fill them with antibiotics. People who want non-commercial, honestly farm fresh eggs ask to buy them, and we do sell them, but a good portion of  our transactions are barter. Neighbors down the road trade  beautiful golden potatoes, squash, or pumpkins, grown on their farm, for eggs for instance. Split firewood from a church friend is another traded commodity. My sister-in-law barters with home made pickles; a few dozen eggs = a few jars of pickles. I love simple math.

My daughter here in Illinois brings me, well... she brings my grandsons. (I come out way ahead on that deal.)  And every trip I make back home to Kentucky, I take a few dozen to my daughter there, in trade for the smiles on her and my grandsons' faces. It's like taking them a little piece of the Chicken Ranch. Another good friend from a nearby town gets 8 dozen at a time, and has brought stove and fireplace wood for years, and ...well, you get the idea.

Now I know ole Adam Smith, the  father of modern economy, would offer a few disparaging comments here concerning barter, but I say if folks trade, and both get what they want, then how can you lose? Pretty much a win-win if you ask me. We just trade the sweat of our brow. We share the best results of our country labors. We simply meet each others needs in country commerce. 

Yeah, if you stop by the local coffee shop sometime, you may catch me and the boys  talking corn, hay, and feed prices. We'll be complaining about the weather like we could do something about it. And you'll likely catch us talking world trade and commerce from an agricultural point of view, and how to fix the government  (like we can do anything about that either).

Yes, country commerce is a conversation all its own, but if you stop in, feel free to join in and offer an opinion. I mean, everybody has one,right? Offer up a way to fix congress! If you can come up with a solution for that, well, I know you'll get a free cup of coffee, and there's a dozen guaranteed farm fresh grade A large eggs in it for you. Heck of a trade that would be!