Farm Leadership
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Farm Income 4th On List of Reasons to Purchase Farmland
The Kansas City Federal Reserve puts out a quarterly survey on credit conditions in their region and the latest survey for the second quarter had some interesting trends. Due to lower wheat prices and the continuing high feed costs, their farmers actually had lower-income for the quarter. However, farmland prices continued their upward trend, up […]
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Notice to Employees of Coverage Options Due October 1st
Employers both large and small are required to provide a notice to employers regarding new health insurance marketplace coverage options by October 1st, 2013. On an ongoing basis, new employees will also need to be provided this notice within 14 days of their start date. The purpose of the notification is to inform employees about […]
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Are Land Value Increases Flattening Out?
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago produces a quarterly newsletter on farmland values for their district which comprises, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. Their latest report seems to indicate a flattening of the rapid farmland price increases we have seen over the last few years. although prices were up 17% on an annual basis, […]
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Health Care Exchanges are Coming (whether you are ready or not)
My friend Dick Wittman farms in Northern Idaho and also does part-time consulting for farmers and their families. I just came across a blog post that he published last week in the Idaho Business Review that I thought gives a very fair view of what the health care exchanges mean to his farm and family. […]
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Installment Sale Update
We have gotten some feedback to our installment sale post of yesterday and this post will clarify some of those questions and feedback. First, if the land being sold is an active part of a schedule F farm business, then it should not be subject to the 3.8% net investment income tax as shown in my […]
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The Power of Installment Sales
We had a reader ask the following question: “I plan to sell some land this year. Will my tax liability be less if I take payments from the buyer over several years?” Before answering this question, lets review how an installment sale works. Instead of owing all of the tax in the year of sale, […]
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Midwest Crop Tour – Last Day
On Thursday, we finished up the samples for the Midwest crop tour. The Eastern leg took samples primarily in Eastern Iowa, while the Western Leg took samples in Southern Minnesota. For all of the data collected on the tour, you can go to www.agweb.com and check out the results. The biggest observation for today is […]
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Midwest Crop Tour – Day 3
Today, we left Bloomington, Illinois bright and early (other than having to jump-start the Ag Day Pickup) and headed due north for about an hour before starting the route. We then traveled north to slightly above DeKalb and then headed due west to Savanna, Illinois right on the Mississippi River, where we crossed into Iowa. […]
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Day Two of Midwest Crop Tour
Today, we left Fishers, Indiana and headed due west and then north towards Kokomo. Most of the corn samples we took between Tipton (where we started our sampling) were very good. Most of the yields were in the 185 to 220 range. Soybean counts were above the three-year average. Our highest corn count in Indiana was […]
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Start of the Midwest Crop Tour
We are at Columbus, Ohio for the start of the Midwest Crop Tour. Tonight, all of the scouts have a meeting to go over the ground rules for the tour. On the Eastern Leg will be 11 routes that cover the area from Columbus to Southern Minnesota. The Western Leg will cover Eastern South Dakota […]