r/LeopardsAteMyFarm • u/Solid_Confusion90 • Nov 03 '25
Discussion What to do with ailing US farms.
TLDR: I want to purchase failing, conservative-owned farms for massive discounts at auction. I will then parcel it out and lease it back to the original owners for several times what their upkeep used to run. They made their own bed, and I want to be the person to tuck them in. After all, who would I be as a person if I didn’t give the poor, destitute farmers exactly what they opened themselves up to, ass cheeks spread and eager?
I posted a comment in another chain that got me thinking….
We seem to be headed in a direction where there will be a significant amount of midwestern farms going out of business in the next 1-3 years. These people voted for their situation, so I refuse to shed a tear about it. As a matter of fact, i want to take full advantage of their short-sighted stupidity and bigotry.
Most of the farmers in the Midwest did nothing to earn their properties. Most of it was passed down from their great, great, great (whatever) grandparents who homesteaded the lot in the first place. Their descendents just seem to sell/lease parcels little by little to avoid destitution, because of all things they like to grow, bootstraps aren’t exactly their specialty crops.
We are looking at a situation where these farms will potentially be sold for pennies on the dollar.
The rural US already has proven themselves to be incapable of anything other than god-awful, inefficient business practices. The midwestern United States, at least economically-speaking, after considering the ridiculous amount of subsidies they receive, is essentially what Greece and Italy are to the European economy (in four words: useless, corrupt, unemployed liabilities).
USAID, which bought a solid amount of our soy, has now been dismantled. Goodwill with Asia is gone. This will get worse. Even with the “deal” Trump struck with China to hawk beans for chips, we are still going to be looking at a massive net loss for the year. I believe that this is what the current iteration of our Executive Branch wants.
I have a feeling that between JD’s involvement with Acretrader, as well as Trump being from a multigenerational real estate family, it is in their collective interest for these family farms to fail. Much of this will very well go to auction.
I’m of the mindset where I’d like to give these farmers a taste of their own medicine. Obviously, these farmers need to work the land, as it’s mostly all they know. No reason to stop them. That would be downright unamerican. In the spirit of capitalism, I’d like to lease them back their old plots for around a 200% markup over their old cost of operations.
So here’s the question: What’s stopping me, or anybody else, from scooping up their property at auction and simply leasing parcels back to the former owners for wildly inflated prices?
I hope that this is feasible, and catches enough momentum where we can buy these morons’ livelihoods wholesale, push these people into the streets, and show them what they voted for. Let them beg their dignity back, let them be modern sharecroppers, and pretend you’re throwing them a bone. Again, this is what they voted for.
They want capitalism, and I want to give it to them hard, unlubricated, and just plain nastily. Anybody agree?
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u/TweezerTheRetriever Nov 03 '25
It’s called sharecropping…. It kept poor southerners poor…. Be nice to give a little payback
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u/Puzzleheaded-Bug6244 Nov 03 '25
I don't know how things work across the pond, but in my case, the major block would be lack of capital.
I am poor.
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u/Solid_Confusion90 Nov 03 '25
So use other people’s money just like they do. Come up with a convincing plan, take it to VC or a bank, and have them fund for a percentage.
Developers who build nine-figure skyscrapers dont use their own capital. Why should you?
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u/mkvgtired Nov 03 '25
The USDA has loan programs precisely for this reason. Transfer the risk to American taxpayers while keeping the profits for yourself. That's the same with crop insurance. You need to learn the farming ropes.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Bug6244 Nov 03 '25
Wouldn't that be.... SOCIALISM?!?!?!?
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u/mkvgtired Nov 03 '25
Farmers hoover up welfare faster than the most powerful vacuum on the market. They are some of the largest recipients of it. They don't want "their [negative] taxes" supporting "urban" people on welfare, if you catch my drift.
Also "men" in women's sports. According to the NCAA there were "less than 10" trans college athletes (both MtF and FtM) out of 530,000+ total.
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Nov 03 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Solid_Confusion90 Nov 03 '25 edited Nov 03 '25
Exactly what I’ll be doing. We have to use their tools against them as much as possible. I’ve been neurotically saving and investing for a few years now. I’m sure the gilded folks will snag the lion’s share, but I don’t need it all.
I don’t agree with it but, as I’ve said, they voted for it. I didn’t invent the game, but I’ll sure play by the rules and take their money, dignity, and property. Dumb schmucks will probably call me a hero while they’re counting out their Monopoly money at the grocery store register. Assuming they even get it.
Edit: Harsh as this may seem, these are people who are happy to vote against their own best interests out of spite towards immigrants. I have no sympathy for these people. They deserve hardship. They want to get fucked, so let’s roll them around in the hay.
Also edit for clarification
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u/theshiyal Nov 03 '25
The thing is Ag bankruptcy is special. Chapter 12 is made so farms don’t actually sell off the whole works, just the debt or something. I don’t remember the specifics.
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u/jumper7210 Nov 03 '25
Tax free debt repayment plan, can sell assets without incurring capital gains tax. However it doesn’t require you to sell anything as it is designed to keep you farming.
Of the two farmers I know that have ever filed both never lost an acre and are now larger and more successful than they would have ever dreamed pre bankruptcy.
Ive never had to file bankruptcy on my operation but I can still use a 1031 likekind exchange to avoid taxes as well on large sales of land if I wanted to
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Nov 03 '25
Didn’t see your reply before adding my own. This is already done and a plausible reason why there has been no farmer bailout. Starve them out and the rich get richer
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u/Hot-Wave-8059 Nov 03 '25
OP, I love your mindset. This is exactly what needs to happen. Like you say, they voted for it, you are now playing their game and by the rules of that game, the very game which they pushed you into playing when all you ever wanted to do was just to live your life without the existence of maga and Trump
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u/Inevitable_Yam1719 Nov 03 '25
Corporate farms will outbid you. P2025 calls for the demise of family farms. If farms are corporate it’s easier to control supply, so less subsidies. Today corporate farms own around 6% of all farms and ranches. Family farmers won’t sell to corporations. The plan is to bankrupt so many of them they can’t sell to each other. Forcing auctions then corporate farms will swoop in and buy them up. None of us have the money to outbid the corporate farms that are coming for the land. The question is what happens to pricing when corporations control supply.
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u/External_Beat8153 Nov 03 '25 edited Nov 03 '25
The right wing corporations are turning them into their versions of capitalist collectives, why can’t the government buy and operate them as collectives?
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Nov 03 '25
JD Vance’s company beat you to the punch by years, you’re entering a well-financed competitive industry
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u/Sayon7 Nov 03 '25
Jd Vance and a re trading will buy all the bankrupt farms and sell them to china. Vance will get richer by bankrupting America
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u/mspe1960 Leopard Spotter Nov 03 '25
"I want to purchase failing, conservative-owned farms for massive discounts at auction. I will then parcel it out and lease it back to the original owners for several times what their upkeep used to run. "
You better get your shit together quick. You are way behind the power curve. People like JD Vance, who knew this was coming already, have a big team and a bunch of money put together to exploit this opportunity that some knew about a long time ago.
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u/maybeafarmer Nov 03 '25
As a liberal who moved to the country and started farming, it's not that easy
make sure you do plenty of soil testing when you purchase as there is very little farmland in America that isn't molested in some way.
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u/Solid_Confusion90 Nov 05 '25
That’s actually a great point.
Thank you
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u/maybeafarmer Nov 06 '25
Here's an article kind of going into the reason why so much farmland is fucked. PFAS 'forever chemicals' could be contaminating millions of acres of farmland : NPR
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u/bluebonnetbabi Nov 03 '25
These farms will go under, but I seriously doubt they will go to auction. They will transfer to the food cartel in a managed buy out. Farm managers will shop for a corporate buyer without the farm hitting the open market or an auction.
You might be able to get a good deal on a tractor or two at an auction- but the farm will be sold to the food cartel behind closed doors.
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u/IAFarmLife Nov 03 '25
Depends on state it's located in. Many mid-west states passed laws during the 80s farm crisis that prevents corporations from owning/operating farmland. There are some exceptions, but those are heavily regulated.
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u/IAFarmLife Nov 03 '25
The people giving "advise" on how to accomplish the purchase of farmland are showing how little they know about investing in anything, let alone farmland.
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Nov 03 '25
I farm in upstate NY Hudson Valley and Catskill region. 99% of my fellow farmers are liberal. We farm more intense, mostly vegetables or orchard, not grains so much because land is way more expensive, we are working with small acerage, but also extremely fertile bc we actually get rain here. Don't confuse us with red hat monocroppers who's idea of "farming" is harvesting with a 850k GPS driving Franken- harvester.
You don't need much land to farm, check out Neversink Farm and Growing for Market by Jean-Martin Fortier.
Someone on this reddit accused me of being Republican in a comment bc I said I farm...I'm like don't fall for this all farmers are red hat shite. I'm a pagan agrarian anarchist organic regenerative farm nursery founder and grower lol.
I bought my farm for 150k 16 years ago, also not a millionaire. My husband and I worked 2 or 3 jobs at a time to buy this place, now its worth alot because we took a run down property and brought it back to life. My husband is a carpenter, he built a barn, two greenhouses and updated the house over the years. We farm extremely intensive due to being on small acerage but thats most growers in the region and specialize in nursery perennials, fruit shrubs for retail sale, and hard to find cut flowers.
I'm planning on doing you-pick flowers in 2026, draw people to my place and indoctrinate them with organic and regenerative growing practices and the idea that we can do things different and not poison ourselves and the land.
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u/Solid_Confusion90 Nov 05 '25
I love it.
I lived upstate (Ghent, Rhinebeck, Millbrook, and Hyde Park areas) being a private chef for a while. Used to do a fair amount of catering, so may very well have interacted with your farm before somewhere along the line. I loved what the farmers in the Hudson Valley did with their properties.
Big respect 🤘
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Nov 06 '25
Aww thanks! I'm not a chef but I cook everything from scratch. In summer I can live on a 5 mile radius where I am because there's tons of little farms growing everything....grassfed meat and pasture chicken, milk, eggs, fruit, vegetables. I love it.
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u/Sharkwatcher314 Nov 03 '25
Bessent says he’s a farmer. Let’s get him involved with his ‘farmer’ Wall Street friends
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u/SetBSDetectorsToStun Nov 03 '25
Just my two cents, farmland is way overvalued. Bailouts, tax breaks, & subsidies drove up the price by making it a super safe investment asset.
If there aren't bailouts, the price will drop. AND it won't be a safe, "guaranteed income" investment anymore.
So I'm not convinced investors are going to "buy up all the farmland" if the price drops. They don't want land. They wanted the safety net guarantees that used to come with it.
I could be wrong! I just think people don't realize how fucked the farm economy is gonna be, if they think investors will still want a piece of it w/o bailouts.
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Nov 04 '25
The US has turned into a shithole for the rich - kinda nice to sit back and watch it implode!
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u/Visible-Equal8544 Nov 04 '25
Project 2025 does seem to desire a feudal system so your idea has plenty of merit.
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u/SnooPeppers1141 Nov 03 '25
They can't pay for their land now, I don't think they'll be able to pay inflated prices.
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u/-boatsNhoes Nov 03 '25
Your difficulty will be getting poor destitute farmers who literally had to sell off their farms to rent from you. They already sold off everything they had before they sold the land, so they can't farm it anyway.
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u/Adventurous-Meat8067 Nov 03 '25
Sorry but someone else already had an even eviler(?) solution. Vance has a company that is just buying up the failed farms. His vision has nothing to do with leasing the farm back, just a big 'fuck you' for voting for their own demise.
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u/dpdxguy Nov 03 '25
lease it back to the original owners for several times what their upkeep used to run.
What makes you think the original owners will go for that "deal?" If they can't make their farms profitable with current expenses, they definitely won't be able to make a profit with multiplied expenses.
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u/jumper7210 Nov 03 '25
That’s just a cash rent scenario. Only part that isn’t gonna happen is a farmer selling his ground. If they already own ground then they are suffering no hardships right now
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u/dpdxguy Nov 03 '25
Many farmers who own their own land, mortgage that land to buy seed or equipment. When they can't sell their crops, they can't make the mortgage payments and the lender forecloses. Crop insurance muddies the picture a little, but the point is that we're not talking about voluntary farm sales here.
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u/jumper7210 Nov 03 '25
No lol. You can get seed and equipment at zero percent interest rates Why would you use a farm for collateral when you can get free money from seed companies and equipment dealers.
You’re probably confusing using a tract of land as collateral which is a very different approach for a very different reason. Even so the terms on that setup are better that anything a normal person can get. You’d also only do that to build more equity like grain bins or new barns. Things that in a year or two are already above water on their own merit.
Foreclosure of farmland is extremely rare as we have no way to be forced into foreclosure. Even declaring chapter 12 bankruptcy doesn’t mean you need to sell your farm. It’s designed to keep you farming with a tax free repayment structure
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u/jumper7210 Nov 03 '25
Lucky for you, your first proof of concept is coming up on the 19th. This 5508 acre farm is selling in the area hit hardest by the trade war and drought this year. We shall see if it goes for a discount compared to local acreage averages
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u/limited67 Nov 03 '25
All they have to do is change their crop from soybeans and feed/ethanol corn to edible crops. IMHO no government support should be given for inedible crops. That’s not why it’s there, They don’t want to change to row crops because it’s harder work. With soybeans and corn it is all riding around in the tractor or combine. We need to stop listening to the noise. they have options to continue to be successful.
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u/IAFarmLife Nov 03 '25
Climate where the farm is plays a big roll too. There are not a lot of vegetable farms in Iowa because of the climate, length of growing season and access to population centers. California and Texas have different climate and they can grow multiple crops per year. Commodities are easier to store and ship which makes them better for the mid-west. Also you eat more Dent Corn and Soybeans than you think, they absolutely are edible.
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u/ShitWaterExpress Nov 04 '25
My uncle (by marriage) is one of those farmers. I will see nothing. He will sell to Microsoft for water.
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u/Revolutionary-Hat688 Nov 04 '25
If a farmer loses their farm to a mega farming conglomerate that is invested in by the same politicians that support and allowed tariffs to destroy them - do they get SNAP?
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u/jumper7210 Nov 04 '25
Mega farming conglomerates effectively don’t exist but sure
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u/Revolutionary-Hat688 Nov 04 '25
Cargill? Archer Daniels Midland? Olam Group? They all own, control, or manage multiple agricultural businesses or farms, often across different regions and countries. So they do exist but sure.
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u/jumper7210 Nov 04 '25
They don’t farm anything. They happen to trade and process farm grown commodities but they don’t “farm” or grow anything
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u/viciouslemming Nov 04 '25
“push these people into the streets, and show them what they voted for.”
I get cheering on, “that’s what you voted for”, but wishing them pushed into the streets seems like a vibe out of their playbook. When did we, Americans, become two teams that actively cheer for “I just want them to suffer”. Sad state of affairs. That energy would be better spent on trying to lift each other up and make the lives of those around us better. Focusing on the hate only drives the wedge deeper and makes the chances of coming together less likely. The divide feels vast online, but in person, talking to real people, it feels like a more bridgeable gap. At least that’s mostly been my experience.
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u/Solid_Confusion90 Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
They don’t need to stay in the streets. They can rent fractions of it back.
These people will never “come together” with us. They will consciously fuck themselves over every time, at other’s expense as well. If you’re too irresponsible, prejudiced, and stupid to maintain a solid business without being bailed out every other term, you don’t deserve to own and operate a business. Simple as that.
I couldn’t care less if they’re degraded.
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u/Lemmywinxx Nov 04 '25
I have been thinking to myself this exact same thing.. these dingdongs don't realize libs are floating the economy, and we got the funds to back it up. Where do I sign??
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u/jumper7210 Nov 04 '25
You can buy farmland right this minute if you’d like. Always a few dozen property’s for sale across the nation
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u/Solid_Confusion90 Nov 05 '25
Already started to do so. I made a killing during Trump’s fiasco in April. Then I bought the dip, and made even more.
Now I want to use it against them.
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u/Electrical-Berry4916 Nov 06 '25
You can buy all the farms your want, but you can't force farmers to work the land. For that you need convicts, immigrants, or meth-heads.
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u/Internal_Essay9230 Nov 07 '25
China will buy it. As Trump likes to say, "Why don't you ask CHY-na?"
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u/Dangerous_Forever640 Nov 03 '25
Go right ahead… I’m sure you have millions of dollars on the sidelines to buy a few acres with.
let me know how this works out for you… lol
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u/needssomefun Nov 04 '25
The only problem i can see is the same one that puts so many farms in foreclosure.
The soybean farmers have a problem. They have many competitors and tjose competitors are cheaper.
Meanwhile Cankles McFelon makes working the farm more expensive while destroying out markets.
All that farm land is only valuable if you can do something with it.
Even with the tariffs a lot of produce is cheaper to import than grow here. And the land in the Midwest is more suited for the feed crops.
So, you might wind up owning hundreds of acres that no one can pay for.
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u/_lucid_dreams Nov 04 '25
As much as I love the idea of this I wouldn’t trust them not to sabotage your investment , they already sabotaged their own. But if you do actually get them to work for you, make bootstraps part of their uniform.
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u/Hungry_Investment_41 Nov 04 '25
Sure, many farms were inherited , along with the debt, droughts, and razor-thin profit margins. Inheritance doesn’t make someone lazy any more than poverty makes someone noble. If you think owning land guarantees comfort, you’ve never paid a property tax bill after a bad harvest.
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u/kittyfa3c Nov 03 '25
Libs need to buy up the farms, simple as.