Farm Trends
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The Crop Tour – Day 2
We spent the night in Grand Island, Nebraska last night. It had rained a little bit last night during the update, but I did not expect to wake up to constant rain and to find out that we had gotten 2.44 inches of rain overnight. We left the hotel at about 6:45 and headed due […]
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First Day on the Crop Tour
I got into the Kansas City airport yesterday about an hour late due to mechanical issues. My partner in the farm picked me up and we then traveled about 350 miles to Sioux Falls and met up with the Pro Farmer Crop Tour participants. There were about 30 people at the meeting and we had […]
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Pre Crop-Tour Comments
I am flying out of Seattle early Sunday morning and meeting up with my farm partner at the Kansas City airport. We are then driving up to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to meet up with all of the Crop Tour participants that are doing the western leg of the tour. The plan is to spend […]
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Owning Farmland Has Provided a Good Return
One of our readers sent me an e-mail yesterday regarding an article posted by www.farmgate.com regarding the return on farmland investment from 1970 top 2009. This post was based upon the research done by Iowa State University. Over the years farmland investment have yielded a very competitive rate of return compared to other investments. However, […]
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Former Soviet Union May Become the Largest Wheat Exporter
It is projected by 2019 that Russia may become the world’s largest wheat exporter and Russian, Ukranian and Kazakhstan (RUK) wheat exports collectively may double the United States wheat exports according to the June 2010 issue of Amber Waves. This growth in wheat exports may help mitigate global food security concerns and help offset the […]
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Farmland Values up in First Quarter
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City issued their quarterly report on agricultural credit conditions for the first quarter of 2010. They indicated farmland values rose due to strong demand and the rebound in livestock prices. Both farmer and non-farm demand appears to be very good. Looking ahead, they expect farmland values to hold steady. […]
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New Drought Resistant Seed May Expand Corn Belt
The April 29, 2010 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek had a good article on how the seed companies are developing drought resistant corn seed that may expand the corn belt farther into Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Another benefit of the seed is a reduction in the amount of irrigation that is needed. This can lead to […]
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Watch for Those Pesky Excise Taxes
I have taken a couple of days off from writing a post due to tax season ending on April 15. As a CPA, you tend to build up a large adrenalin rush until April 15 and then it takes a big dump and all you want to do is nothing and get a lot […]
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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Health Care Act) – Tax Provisions
My good friend Scott Heintzelman of The Exuberant Accountant recently posted a summary of the information on the new Health Care act that passed Sunday night and I thought I would post the same summary since this new Act will affect all of us as Americans and as farmers. Premium Assistance Credit The act provides […]
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Farmville is not Farming
Facebook has a game called Farmville that has become very popular. When my wife first started playing the game, I almost thought I was going to have to get her some treatment for her addiction. I would constantly get messages from Facebook asking me to do something for her Farmville game. The first couple of […]