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Update on 2012 Crop Insurance Losses
Farm Doc Daily from the University of Illinois just release an extremely good article updating the total net crop losses incurred during 2012. As most of us are aware, 2012 resulted in the highest amount of indemnity payments ever paid under the crop insurance system at slightly more than $17 billion. 2010 was in second […]
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Pay Your Kids!
One of my favorite memories of my childhood is riding the combine with my dad every harvest season. A very early slides shows me sitting on my father’s lap sound asleep on his 1950 era Massey Ferguson combine. This combine only lasted one harvest season since it was not a Hillside model. He upgraded to an […]
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Corn & Bean Prices Are Approaching the Spring Price
As I type this post, December corn futures are currently trading at $5.59 and November beans futures are at $12.84. Both of these prices are within a few pennies of the spring price that was set based on the average February prices of these futures contracts ($5.65 and $12.87, respectively). It is interesting that after […]
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More States to Raise Taxes?
The State of Minnesota just passed a new Tax Bill that will raise approximately $2.1 billion in new revenues. Almost all segments of business and individuals are affected by the new bill. Our firm has provided a recap of the major changes that can be accessed here. As a result of these changes, many Minnesota […]
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Beginning Farmers Are Not Necessarily Young Farmers
The USDA in their Amber Wages April 1 issue had a very interesting article on the make-up of beginning farmers using 2011 data. I naturally assumed that most of these “beginning” farmers were less than 35 years of age. It turns out that this segment only comprises 14% of total beginning farmers. The largest segment […]
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Will This Time Be Different?
The Kansas City Federal Reserve just released a workpaper entitled “Farm Investment and Leverage Cycle: Will This Time Be Different?”. The article describes the four major farm cycles that have occurred since 1900. The first cycle begin in 1910 and ended in 1940. The First World War caused farm prices to rise dramatically which led […]
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Will Excess Farm Loss Rules Apply With New Farm Bill?
There is a provision in the Income Tax Code that disallows certain farm losses that are in excess of $300,000 (or the aggregate farm income for the last 5 years). This excess amount is not allowed in the current year, but is carried forward and allowed as a deduction in the next tax year (assuming […]
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A Farmland REIT is Now Publicly Traded
Gladstone Land Corporation (LAND) just recently raised $50 million in their IPO at a $15.50 price to invest solely in farmland. To date, they have purchased acreage in California and Florida (primarily berry related) and just closed on a blueberry farm in Michigan. Since its IPO, the price has increased almost 10% to close at $16.80 on […]
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Senate and House Appear Closer on Farm Bill
After the House passed their Farm Bill today, it appears that their version on the Senate version are not too far apart. The key points for both are: An elimination of all direct farm payments A reduction in CRP acreage to either 24 or 25 million acres Consolidation of many farm programs A Price Support […]
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What is “Draconian”
I was doing a google search on the House Farm Bill today and the 10th item that showed up in my search was this article. With a title of “House Ready to Make Draconian Cuts to Food Stamps in House Bill” I was interested in what these “draconian” cuts were. As you read the article, […]
