A Farmer’s Contrarian Lament – MarketWatch

I guess I can double my acreage and lose more. With the interest-rate spike, capital purchases aren’t in my plan. As best we can tell, the middlemen are making a killing by selectively managing grocer “shortages” and pocketing inflation.

Local acreage price increases are driven by newbie, freshly retired professionals buying 50- to 100-acre parcels to build a big house and feed “rescue” dogs, horses, pigs, sheep, goats, mules, donkeys, llamas, camels, etc. The guy a mile or so behind me has a lion—an exotic rescue. Another turned a 100-acre or so cotton patch into a sizable protective dog training/boarding school. Pets look like the future of once-productive land.

Curt Johnston, On Barrons.com

To the Editor:
Very informative insights regarding the newer technologies. I especially like the notion of immediate soil diagnostics, which allow for optimal seed spacing and, in turn, less fertilizer and insecticide use.

Jordan Blinder, On Barrons.com

To the Editor:
While it is true that Farmland Partners was up a lot over three years, actually the whole gain was at the beginning, and it has trending down for almost three years. We have been interested in the technological developments in agriculture that were so well described in the piece. We agree that AGCO is well situated, but also think that Deere has a very strong position.

John Levin, Levin Capital Strategies, New York

To the Editor:
Jack Hough commented that “many farmers are in it for the lifestyle; fewer do it for a living.” When I read that to a farmer, he laughed. He said he doesn’t know what that means. Apparently, he is one of the few who are in it for a living.

Dwayne Salem, Myerstown, Pa.

To the Editor:
We own a 40-acre orange ranch and two citrus-packing houses. Luckily, these businesses aren’t our real jobs. We love the lifestyle and tax write-offs, but we aren’t getting rich.

Robert Price, On Barrons.com

Setting It Straight

To the Editor:
Kudos to Lauren Foster (“The 100 Most Sustainable U.S. Companies Right Now,” March 2). She set the record straight on environment, social, and governance, or ESG, investing: It’s about going forward, not backward to a time of nostalgia that never was. I was pleased to see that six of Barron’s top 100 companies were ones that I’ve held for at least five years. Of those, two tech companies, Lam Research and Applied Materials, have done best for me, but they’re all keepers.

Patricia S. Duffy, Grand Blanc, Mich.

To the Editor:
Companies that hire the best people, use the best materials and equipment, and get by without special favors from the government will usually reach their objective of making a fair profit on their investment. With this in mind, a savvy investor may want to avoid the shares of those companies on your list that have a high ESG score.

Russ Stabley, Hartwell, Ga.

The Flexibility Paragon

To the Editor:
In “Variable Dividends Were Hot as Oil and Gas Soared. Now They’ve Cooled Off,” Avi Salzman opines that “flexibility is good, but it may not attract investors as 10% yields once did” (Income Investing, March 3). It seems to me that the flexibility paragon is much more attractive than a high yield. Energy is a highly cyclical industry. A variable payout gives a company superior choices in allocating profits. When the stock price falls with the cycle, buy back shares. When cash gushes with oil, raise the payout. Instead of not attracting investors, the new paradigm may very well attract patient investors with a long-term view of this highly cyclical industry. Why did it take so long for this idea to surface? Simple but elegant.

Harvey Rosen, Brooklyn, N.Y.

The Perfect Market

To the Editor:
In “Warren Buffett’s Secret Sauce Is Dividends. Options Can Be a Safe Substitute” (The Striking Price, March 1), Steven Sears makes the point that more investors should consider using options to enhance returns and reduce risk. Perhaps that’s because options are viewed by many investors as being too risky or too complicated.

Selling covered calls against existing positions isn’t that difficult, and is more conservative than owning the stock outright.

I have a relatively modest portfolio of 14 stocks, almost all paying dividends. By using the above process, I pull in an extra $1,500 to $2,000 a month.

This is a perfect market to do this, by the way. The trend is sideways to down. Your chances of making money are far greater than when the trend is up.

If you’re nervous about doing this, start small—try it with one or two of your positions. You’ll quickly see the benefit.

Dave Sylvain, Andover, Conn.

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