Wind machines and smoke pots

[buffalobo]

Yes, farming is a little like gambling, you can win big or lose big. When I was a young orchardist preparing to harvest a first bumper crop of apples, a hail storm moved through the valley. Like a forest fire or a tornado on the plains, the hail cut swaths and fingers of destruction shredding fruit and foliage wherever it hit. We lost 80% of our orchard crop in fifteen minutes. It was devastating.

Dad always said that was why he never followed his dad into farming. Couple freezes, snow storms, hail storms in a row could send a guy to the poor house.

[Hummer]

Dad always said that was why he never followed his dad into farming. Couple freezes, snow storms, hail storms in a row could send a guy to the poor house.

That early experience of losing our crop to hail got me investigating the use of hail cannons. Hail cannons are like big chimney stacks that would fire a high explosive blast of propane gas into the clouds to disrupt the formation of hailstones in the atmosphere. Like little sonic booms fired every 1-10 seconds. It wouldn't have justified the investment here because in 25 years of fruit growing we only had two significant losses from hail.

[68Charger]

Dad always said that was why he never followed his dad into farming. Couple freezes, snow storms, hail storms in a row could send a guy to the poor house.

They have insurance for it... but that means your best year is only mediocre- the insurance can be very expensive. Wife is a beneficiary to a trust that owns a number of farms in Nebraska... they buy the insurance- and some years the insurance payment is more than what they profit on the farm (in other words, over half the profit went to insurance).. I think i'd be less risk adverse when the cost is so high. Some years, the only yield on some farms is the payout from the insurance.