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hillbilly

Little by little I am learning about rice farming here in Thailand. Even though I grew up on a dairy farm in the Ozarks, my knowledge of rice farming is very limited.

This small snippet of rice farming is one of a personal nature. You see, this particular rice is my own. What it brings at the market is what my family will sock away in the bank.

These rice fields have been bought by both my wife and I. If you know anything about what I have written and shown in the past then you would know it is a joint venture and our family's future is involved.

So here is the combine; well, combining.

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hillbilly

Notice the dark clouds in the sky? If the rice is to wet then the farmers (me) get deducted from the total price. The days of storing rice for the hopefully biggest price is gone.

Having said that, see that Thai lady walking along the rice fields? Let's follow and see what is going on.

hillbilly

I have traveled by motorcycle almost 14 km from our resort outside of P-lok to our rice fields. We have about 60 rai that will hopefully bring us some money.



Here comes the combine to unload.

tuktukdriver

How much rice can you get out of one rai?

Chairman Mao

Good work. How much does a combine rent for? Or is it your own.

hillbilly

How much rice per rai is a difficult question to answer. Thailand basically has 4 different kinds of rice farming. There is the rainfed lowland, the irrigated system, the deepwater and the upland rice farms.

We basically fall into the irrigated system in THIS part of the Central Plains of Thailand. Thais measure rice taken from each plot of land by units. For example out of the 20 rai just farmed we collected about 12 units. each unit use to be worth B10,000, now each unit is only bringing in B6,000.

Add this to the cost of combining at B450 per rai, cost of the land, rice plants, fertilizer and insecticide, labor, etc., well you can get the picture.

Regardless, here you can see the combine starting to unload the rice.



This video shows what is going on. Not very exciting I know. But it is hot and noisy!

YouTube - A combine in Thailand

tsicar

ok, so assuming you got one crop per year, you are loooking at 120000baht TURNOVER.
harvesting cost you 9000baht.
now labour, fertilizers and insecticides,cost of irrigating 20 rai as you stated, and even excluding these extra costs,do you think that as a business venture, that this is all viable? (6000baht per rai per year excluding labour, fertilizer etc)
surely ther must be a way to make more profitable use of the land? (and if any idiot mentions cassava..............)!
i am not knocking you and this is a great thread,
-just questioning the viability of farming crops in thailand.

i put in a lot of effort growing my own vegetables, and apart from the peace of mind i got, knowing that my family was not chomping on insecticides, i figured it probably cost me about twice as much in the end as it would have, had i just bought them at the talaat!

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hillbilly

Now rice farming in Thailand is not all toil and no fun. Here I am following the eldest sister of my wife. I met this lady many years ago and soon learned, when she says something, it is best to do it! Truly a great lady!

Keep in mind that she is walking in her socks. I was walking in my cheap flip-flops and constantly on the look for snakes.

Follow us and see what happens.

DrAndy

the price of rice has gone up but the farmers are not seeing that

the middlemen are really raking it in, not fair at all

we sell some of our rice direct to restaurants, so get a better price

Rural Surin

Many regions have bucked the system for a more secure collective system. Not having to deal directly {or indirectly} with the corrupt Thai Rice Mafia Establishment......

hillbilly

After a couple hundred meters of walking in the rice farm that had not been combined we stopped here.

She jumped in the edge trench of this particular plot and began to scoop out buckets of water. All she told me was to move out of the way.



What is she doing?

hillbilly

Please tell me that she is not going to stick her hand/arm in that hole.



But she does in order to force the fish out. Dinner for tonight!




And it is time for the combine to make another round.

hillbilly

I grew up farming and love farming. But...

Now keep in mind that we usually get three crops per year. Usually. Sometimes only two.

So as I get older, I have to ask myself; is the gamble worth it. Right now, I can rent out 20 rai for B10,000 per month.

tsicar

hb, what do think the profit per rai is, after all costs (hidden ones too) have been figured into the equation.
initial outlay for the land excluded, since this remains a saleable asset.
impressed that you can get 2-3 crops per year, btw -is that due to the irrigation or just using your brain and putting in the extra effort?

bobbysan124

Interesting thread. Thanks.