Farm Industry Trends
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Is China Running Out of Farmland
Colvin and Company provides a very good blog related to farm land investments called Farmland Forecast. In one of their more recent blogs, they did a great analysis of whether China is running out of good arable farmland. At the beginning of 2000, China had about 128 million hectares of good arable land. As of […]
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Can I Defer Taxes on Equipment Sales?
We got the following question from one of our readers: “I’m downsizing and want to sell some of my depreciated equipment. If I sell it out right I will pay full tax the first year on sale price. Can I lease my Equipment to someone for five to ten years to have the income spread […]
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Investors Worry About Accuracy of USDA Reports
In Friday’s Wall Street Journal, there is a front page article in the Money and Investing Section regarding the worry of various investors about how accurate the USDA has been with the latest US corn crop. As most farmers know there has been whipsaws in the reports issued this year. In June, the USDA reported that stockpiles […]
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Volatility – Is it Your Friend of Enemy?!
Another nugget of information that I got out of the speech by Dr. Boehlje of Purdue University on Wednesday is that accordingto their studies at the school, the volatility associated with agriculture has gone up by 400% in the last few years. This means that the price swings in ag commodities is now 4 times greater than […]
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Lock in Low Rates Now!
Dr. Michael Boehlje, a farm economics professor at Purdue University spoke at out opening day of the National Ag conference of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (I know that is a mouthful). He gave a 4 plus hour presentation on the agricultural economy both currently and insights into the future. One of the […]
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When is a Deposit Income?
I will be at the annual American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Ag Convention in Denver today till Friday. I hope to come away some ideas for our farmers. We had a reader ask the following question: “Can you hold checks that have been sent to us for grain sold in 2010 until 2011?” The […]
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Creative Taxpayer Gets Denied
Many farmers forget to properly allocated their purchase price when purchasing land. For tax purposes, you can not deduct land, however, you can depreciate any improvements made to the land. For example, assume a farmer buyer a quarter section for $1 million dollars. On that quarter section, there is a well, roads, fences, buried main […]
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Cost Basis Now Reported on Form 1099-B
Back in 2008 a new law was passed requiring banks and brokerage companies to report the cost basis of stocks, bonds, etc. sold during the year. This reporting is to start for purchases after December 31, 2010. The IRS has now released regulations that this cost basis information will be reported on form 1099-B which […]
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Dynamic Live Budgeting – Update
I have gotten a few requests on if there is software out there that will handle a dynamic live budget for farmers. What I have found so far that works the best is to use an Excel spreadsheet. I have reviewed a couple of budgeting programs that are for me simply to complicated to work […]
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Dynamic Live Budgeting – Use it to Prosper!
I see way too many farmers and other business people who treat their annual budget as the necessary evil that the banker requires at year-end to get the loan. A very successful farmer will, rather, treat a budget as a dynamic live tool that will help guide their operation to maximize profits. First, lets review […]