Demographics
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2012 Cattle Inventory
Most everyone knows that the cattle inventory numbers have been trending down for a few years now. The 2012 Ag Census confirms this. In 1997, there were 34.2 million cattle on hand. Over the next 15 years, this steadily dropped to a final 28.95 million cattle in 2012. As we can probably guess, the top state […]
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The 2012 Billion Dollar Counties
I had previously posted on the 2007 Ag Census for those counties in the US that exceeded $1 billion in annual farm sales. In that census, there were 20 counties in the US with sales in excess of $1 billion and almost all of them were in California. Six other states had counties in excess […]
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2012 US Farm Census
The USDA performs a farm census every five years. They just released the final numbers for the 2012 census. Over the next few months, I will do various posts regarding this census on a more detailed basis, but I thought I would give some highlights now: Total US farm sales for 2012 were $395 billion […]
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Real Estate Includes Land but Not For Depreciation Purposes
We had a reader send in the following comments and question: “I appreciated your information on the tax reform proposal. In your 4th bullet point on depreciation, you stated that “Most if almost all farm real estate…would be over 40 years and not the current 10 or 20 years.” It has been my understanding that […]
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When Will Productivity Start Increasing Again?
Co Bank provides loans to cooperatives and other Farm Credit Service banks across the country. They also issue a monthly Outlook and for the February issue, Lee Ohanian, an economist with UCLA was interviewed regarding the lack of growth in productivity over the last few years. In layman’s terms, productivity represents the growth in total […]
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Some Quick Thoughts on the 2012 Ag Census
The USDA released a preliminary 2012 Ag Census report last week. This report provides summarized information on the number and types of farms by state. More detailed information will be released later on in the year. Some of my quick thoughts on this preliminary release are (comparisons will be to the 2007 Ag Census): Total US […]
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John Deere Expects Increase (Hopes For) in Section 179 and Bonus Depreciation
John Deere released their first quarter fiscal 2014 years yesterday and profits were up slightly from the year before. As part of the conference call, they highlighted that US farm receipts are expected to remain high, however, based on their graph in slide # 6, they do show US farm receipts over $400 billion in […]
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IRS Data by Zip Code and County
The IRS just released certain summarized income and expense information based upon taxpayers in a county or zip code for tax year 2011. This information includes the number of returns with AGI between certain dollar amounts such as 0-$25,000, over $200,000, etc. It also provides information on the components of income such as wages, interest, dividends. […]
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Crop Insurance is not Taxed Before Receipt!
We have gotten several calls and emails from readers and clients regarding when crop insurance is taxed. The confusion seems to relate to the revenue programs where the crop insurance received is based on price not yield. The confusion arises since these types of claims can not be deferred. However, if the crop insurance claim […]
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Day 2 & 3 of the NW Co-Op Council Meetings
David Enquist from our Moses Lake, Washington office is providing the following recap of day 2 and 3 of the NW Co-Op Council annual meeting. Days 2 had presentations focusing on succession planning, reputation management, talent management, and an awards banquet. The succession and talent management presentations tied in very well together as properly identifying […]