Most of woodland loss was from selloff of timber and conversation to cropland and pasture. The five year period with dramatic forest conversion was 2009-2013 which coincides with the run up in commodity prices Cites a local broker: “High-demand woodland for hunting maybe goes for about $2,000” an acre, Tauke said. “If you had some acres and were Read more…
In 2011 the Argentina Kirchner-led government imposed the rural land law which imposed broad restrictions on the purchase and lease of rural lands by foreign entities and individuals. Enacted late last month by the new Argentina government led by Mauricio Macri is a New Decree that repeals many of the barriers that had been established Read more…
In Manitoba foreign interests are limited to 40 acres in ‘farm land’ (i.e. land outside of a city, capable of being used for farming) in order to maintain opportunities for Canadians to acquire farm land for agricultural purposes and to support the development of strong rural communities. You can read more here about the foreign Read more…
John Watson/Fay Ranches. Introduced yesterday, the Conservation Easement Incentive Act is a Congressional bill that would make the Conservation Easement tax incentive permanent. By way of background, for the fourth time in recent history, enhanced tax incentives for conservation easements have expired making it very difficult to incentivize land owners to conserve their conservation and Read more…
John Watson, Fay Ranches. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) payments have generally been recognized by absentee/non farmer landowners as passive income. Per a tax court ruling last week, the IRS position is now to recognize CRP income as active; Therefore subject to a 15.3% self-employment tax. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a cost-share and rental payment program under the United States Department Read more…
Enhancing Land Health Revitalizes both Land Beauty and Productivity By John Watson, Fay Ranches; Legacy Landbank Conservationist, visionary and mentor, Doug Tompkins, sent me over the weekend, a batch of photos of his Campo Laguna Blanca (farm) situated in the Entre Rios province of Argentina. These pics have a real meaning to me because I see Read more…
The deep freeze the Midwest is experiencing illustrates just another comparative advantage of US Midwest farmland over other farmland regions in the world. Frost and the soil upheaval that results, is a great benefit because it mitigates soil compaction. Soil compaction can significantly reduce farm income and yields. Compacted soils have less oxygen in the Read more…
Book Review – Investor’s Guide to Farmland Authors: Greyson S. Colvin and T. Marc Schober I represent investors in U.S. land transactions, and read Investor’s Guide to Farmland in an effort to hone my personal farmland investment IQ; and also, to provide my clients with an investor friendly but sophisticated introduction to the asset class. Read more…
“We didn’t get poor soils in one year and we won’t solve this in one year,” Investing in soil essential to good farm policy By Brian DeVore, Loon Commons January 11, 2013 On a crisp morning in September, North Dakota farmer Gabe Brown held two handfuls of soil and searched for signs of life—theoretically not Read more…
Articles over the past several years have quoted gifted seers like Warren Buffet, Jim Rogers, Jeremy Grantham and Marc Faber with a positive outlook on the long term fundamentals of U.S. farmland. But this is not a business or asset class for the non-specialist to jump in feet first. In this market I see some Read more…