MOOSE JAW, Sask. – It’s a good thing Darren Thul likes to take chances.
Farming offers him plenty of opportunity.
The Marquis, Sask., farmer cropped 3,000 acres just three years ago. That number has now more than tripled.
“The risk is out of this world as far as I’m concerned,” he told the annual Farming for Profit conference, which this year focused on the farm crisis.
But that’s not new to him.
Several years ago, he and his brother began ostrich farming. They thought the diversification effort would end all their problems.
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The money they made was plowed back in. They scrimped and saved and didn’t take family trips. Then, the bottom dropped out of the ostrich industry.
“We lost more money in that venture than I’ve ever imagined losing,” Thul said.
“We truly wasted three or four years of our life.”
He urged all farmers to make sure they take time for themselves and their families, and to have fun.
“Don’t forget to live your life along the way.”
Thul also said farmers shouldn’t be afraid to make choices that might seem scary. He planted more than half his farm this year to a crop he has never grown, but he said there is no point growing wheat or barley.
“If I can’t make it pay on paper, I sure as hell can’t do it in the field. Don’t pick a guaranteed loser.”
Thul said farmers will beat the crisis if they sit down in the winter and go through the economics of different crops.
If the worst happens, he said he’d rather go broke in six months than over 10 years. And, by having fun, at least he could say he had a good time getting there.
