I had a nice chat with my farmer today, catching up on things, and told him how much I admired his new combine. It is a New Holland Twin Rotor Combine, the largest in North America.

He bought it used - it's four years old - for $875,000, half of what a new one costs. The original owner lived in Minnesota and used it only one year because he had planned on farming some adjacent land, but the neighbors decided to do his own farming so it stayed in the shed after the first year. It has two harvesting heads, a 30 row grain head, and a 10 row corn head. Shipping it from Minnesota to Colorado cost $5000 and required two trips.



I think the design is modernistic and poetic in a way.



We didn't discuss the price of corn; ten days ago it was $3.77 - $3.76 a bushel and today it is $3.53. I start watching the market this time of year and when I decide it is pretty good we sell last year's corn harvest. It usually keeps going up in general until April or so, based partially on spring moisture conditions. I can remember selling it for $2.86 in years past, so this looks like a pretty good year for prices.

Beer barley will be a good-paying crop this year because the brewery signed contracts that locked in a much higher price than the current market. I hope this doesn't raise the price of beer.