
How ranchers in the West survive on their winnings from rodeo riding - flannery
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/how-ranchers-in-the-west-survive-on-their-winnings-from-rodeo-riding/2018/06/15/cff10c34-4fd3-11e8-af46-b1d6dc0d9bfe_story.html
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aaavl2821
Italy has a pretty cool program program for helping small scale farmers /
ranchers make additional income through tourism by providing support (and
money I believe) to help farmers start "agriturismos". It preserves something
of the local / historical character of the farms and encourages participation
in the tourism by locals rather than real estate companies building hotels.

I've stayed in a few and they've been amazing, many provide breakfast or
communal dinners with produce from the farm, the settings are beautiful, and
you get to know some of the local community

I'm not sure how farmers view this program, for all I know they could hate it
(I hope not), but from the people I've spoken to it seems like a good program
for everyone

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girvo
This is basically how most tourism works in Cuba, with the Casa particulars. I
stayed out on a farm for a week in Vinales, and I cannot recommend it enough!
Amazing experience, and helps the locals a lot: for $20CUC a night, they're
making nearly half what the government gives them a month (depending).

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simonebrunozzi
I did the same. Loved it too!

p.s. It's "Casa particulares"

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girvo
I typed that, autocorrect!

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nugget
>Can Smith Mesa survive another generation in the Wrights’ name? And if so,
how? The land is perfect for a postcard, but as Bill explains, “Beauty don’t
pay the bills.”

Isn't the whole point that beauty does pay the bills now, as tourism has
eclipsed ranching as the most economically productive use of land in that
area?

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altussky
Maybe for .01% of ranchers. I grew up on a ranch in Utah. Ranchers that make
money from tourism or the rodeo are few and far between compared to the total
number of ranches in Utah.

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nugget
If that's the case then what is driving the rapid rise in land prices?

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TangoTrotFox
Source on rapid rise in land prices? This [1] is from the USDA showing land
prices at least from 2011 to 2015. Utah land runs an average of $2050 an acre
and seems to be rising more slowly than most other areas, up from $1800 over
those 5 years.

[1] -
[http://www.usda.gov/nass/PUBS/TODAYRPT/land0815.pdf](http://www.usda.gov/nass/PUBS/TODAYRPT/land0815.pdf)

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nugget
From the article:

>But in the 21st century, as climate change triggers periods of drought, land
values continue to skyrocket, and the attraction of Zion expands along with
its hotels, restaurants and bike shops, the family operation finds itself
“squatted at the intersection of the old and new Wests.”

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TangoTrotFox
Hahaha, this reminds me of that Thomas Jefferson quote, _" The man who never
looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them, inasmuch as
he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with
falsehoods and errors."_

I think the thing we can only be 'thankful' for is that that quote was from
1807. Our 'modern' issues are hardly modern!

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davidw
From the article:

> rodeo is rarely given serious literary treatment.

"Wild Horse Rider" is an interesting tale of a rodeo rider from 100 years ago,
about a real person, from the Wallowa area of eastern Oregon
[https://amzn.to/2I3RtGu](https://amzn.to/2I3RtGu)

It's not a work of 'great literature', but I enjoyed it. The guy had an
interesting life for sure.

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robotkdick
The OP is a take-off on the book: _The Last Cowboys: A Pioneer Family in the
New West_ , which profiles _the Wrights of southern Utah, who have ranched
near Zion National Park for 150 years, “long before there were any roads to
get there,”_

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asciimo
Absent from the reasons given for ranch decline is that "Per capita U.S. beef
consumption peaked in the 1970s and has since declined by about one-third,
according to USDA data on food availability."
([http://www.wri.org/blog/2018/01/2018-will-see-high-meat-
cons...](http://www.wri.org/blog/2018/01/2018-will-see-high-meat-consumption-
us-american-diet-shifting)) Though this does seem to be trending up again
lately.

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altussky
Based on my experience per capita U.S. beef consumption isn't a primary factor
when it comes to ranch decline. During that same time period beef consumption
growth in Asia (per capita) offset the difference and then some. Over the past
20 years beef prices ($/kg) have increased almost 300% from ~$1.60 to ~$4.50.

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latchkey
I live in Saigon now. It is amazing to me how many restaurants here claim to
serve USDA beef.

I say 'claim to' because so much is fake here and there is no way to verify
it.

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Larrikin
In Japan when you see a place advertising USDA you definitely are getting it
and people go in excited and expecting it. Not because it will be good but
because you'll be getting a lot of beef for a lot cheaper than domestic, which
goes for double the price atleast, but the domestic is also noticeably better.

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zinckiwi
GDPR;DR

