Agricultural Land

Solar Panel Plague or Progress? Controversy Explodes as Farmland Disappears

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:55:53 GMT

Roughly 2,200 acres of prime farmland is vanishing under a blue blanket of glass, plastic, aluminum, and silicon in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. The disappearing act, increasingly common in rural America, is a sweet source of income for some farmers, but a bitter pill for many adjoining producers and landowners.

“Giant solar panels mean prime farmland gone forever and the ruin of rural life, not to mention a potential environmental mess,” says Kate Smit, whose farm sits close to the proposed solar facility.

Smit’s property will be the next-door recipient of 461,000 solar panels strung in 5,400 rows, much of it surrounded by 7’-high fencing.

Bill Peter, a homeowner adjacent to the incoming facility and former longtime employee of Liberty Farms, the same operation that leased the acres for a solar transformation, is opposed to the installation: “Don’t insult me by calling it a ‘solar farm.’ I’m not fooled. What’s happening is sick, and whether you live in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, or any other state, it’s coming to your backyard. Today here and tomorrow everywhere.”

Peter was fired by Liberty Farms on March 27, he claims, as a direct outcome of his opposition to the solar lease. “I don’t agree with the ‘tiny percent of overall farmland’ excuse,” he adds. “This is one of the saddest things I’ve seen in American agriculture in my lifetime. It ends with glass and metal covering millions of acres.”

Is Peter correct? How many solar acres are planned: 10 million by 2030? 20 million by 2040? Less? More?

Eyesore or Green Beauty?
Standing at the edge of her 97 acres of grain outside Richland Township, Kate Smit sweeps an arm toward the horizon. She soon will be surrounded by a sea of solar panels. Her property almost rubs nearby Liberty Farms—which leased 2,268 prime acres to Consumers Energy, the second largest electric utility in Michigan, for a solar facility with construction and operation scheduled in 2026.

Proposed coverage of the 2,268-acre solar panel site in Richland Township.

(Image by Consumers Energy)

“Our family farm dates back 100 years and now my kids will inherit our fields beside a sprawling, industrial mess,” Smit describes. “We’re an example of what’s going on all over Michigan and the U.S.”

(The Liberty Farms solar installation is not a done deal. The Richland Township planning commission has not yet approved Consumer Energy’s application.)

“Our area in Richland has gorgeous nature with abundant deer, ospreys, bald eagles, cranes, and you name it. We’re also a wonderful agriculture community, and it’s all the bigger shame because prime farmland is what they’re using for this solar project.”

According to a release, Consumers Energy “expects the Project to be in service for at least 35 years. Consumers Energy has worked diligently with nearby landowners and residents to minimize Project impacts on the surrounding community.”

“Are you kidding me? That farmland is lost way past 35 years or 50 years, or whatever ridiculous number they throw out,” Smit says. “No one wants solar panels here, and Consumers knows that. Our community is fighting this tooth and nail. Consumers came here hush-hush, did deals with MDOT, and suddenly our landscape is permanently destroyed.”

(Consumers Energy declined Agweb interview requests regarding the Richland solar installation.)

“We want to stall Consumers’ solar project until we can get a bill passed in our state senate to where townships and counties have to vote if a solar panel company wants in,” Smit continues.

Solar lease rates for agriculture land are significantly high.

(Graph by AFBF)

Two miles from Smit, Bill Peter, 70, who sits on the Richland Township board as a trustee, lives down a mile-and-a-half road dotted with seven homes. “I’m about to get circled by solar panels,” he says. “Literally, Consumers Energy is putting panels all the way around. They’ll take out the tillable ground and replace it with glass.”

Ironically, until March 2026, Peter was employed at Liberty Farms, the new landlord of Consumers Energy. “I’m not afraid to tell the truth and they fired me for it. That’s their choice,” he emphasizes. “I’m not sitting quietly while 450,000 solar panels permanently replace the best farm soil around.”

Generally, solar panels are made of 76% glass, 10% plastic, 8% aluminum, 5% silicon, and 1% copper.

“There’s nothing green about this green energy,” Peter contends. “They want to put glass, steel, aluminum, and plastic on top of a natural watershed area, and completely cut the ground off from photosynthesis, and then tell you it’s environmentally safe for 50 years, and won’t hurt the soil with contamination? What happens when a tornado or natural disaster tosses grinds all these panels to particles?”

“We’re all tired of this renewable energy talk,” he adds. “It funnels to tax dollars and tax breaks, and backroom deals and mandates. This Richland installation is rumored to be a $50-plus million contract, ultimately paid for by us in one way or another.”

“Wake up,” Smit echoes. “No matter where you’re at in the U.S., the land beside you or the land in your community could be next. How many panels will they put in if they can get away with it?”

Battle of the Pens
In 2021, President Biden (Executive Order 14057 ) mandated that the federal government reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. A massive solar push was included in the plan. How much farmland was needed to reach the net-zero goal? Estimates ranged from 10 million to 26 million acres, with upper end projections of 50 million.

“We’re supposed to say nothing while solar panels and data centers explode, and we’re told about the wonders of green, renewable energy,” says Smit.

(Photo by iStock)

However, in 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14148 , revoking Biden’s mandate.

In 2024-2025, solar infrastructure covered approximately 1 million-plus acres of farmland, with roughly half of the acreage directly on cropland. Overall, the U.S. contains almost 880 million acres of farmland.

“It’s not that complicated to me,” says Ed Yelton, a cattle producer in Dearborn County , Indiana. “They’ll build as many as they can get away with. If you think it’s not a big deal because they’re only on a fraction of total farmland, wait till one pops up beside you. Who in the hell wants to see the monstrosity?”

“And if a different presidential administration comes in, they might pick up a pen and sign another executive order and we’ll be at 50 million acres before you know it. Let me be direct: Whatever number the government pushes, that tells me they want far, far more.”

A mile from Yelton’s pastures, Linea Energy has a lease on 1,200 acres of planned solar panels. “It’s beautiful farmland, or was,” Yelton says.

Prime agricultural land is popular for solar installations, partially because it’s often open, dry, and relatively flat. Construction costs for solar conversion on farmland are generally lower than on other types of ground.

The pressure from solar installations and data centers on rural landowners and communities is just beginning, Kate Smit says.

(Graph by AFBF)

“The energy people slipped in here and signed leases with people without nobody knowing it. These are the same people that tell you that solar isn’t permanent while they’re hauling in glass, fencing, and concrete. This is same story you see in North Carolina, New York, Kentucky, Oklahoma—it’s all over the place.”

“We’re pressuring our zoning board to do something,” Yelton exclaims. “That might be the solution in the future: Only allow solar panel installation beside the homes and properties of county officials and board members. Hell, that might sincerely stop some of this.”

Private Land v Public Choice?
Whose ox is gored? When millions of dollars in lease contracts are at stake, how does the right to use private land as a property owner sees fit weigh into the solar equation? Simply, solar pays tremendously well compared with corn, cotton, rice, or soybeans.

“It’s a tough one,” Yelton admits. “I believe a person should be able to do with their land whatever they want, but solar is something else. If you’re the next to get panels beside your land or house, you’ll be sick. The only solution to panels and AI data centers is to let a community decide.”

“The power companies and the government all know this is wrong. That’s why they call them ‘solar farms.’ They use words to trick and influence the public, but that’s an insult to anyone in agriculture. I’m sticking with common sense: Once you put glass, aluminum, and plastic all over a field, that’s no longer a farm.”

Well and Good
As of 2024, American Farm Bureau Federation estimates over 1.25 million acres of farmland has been covered by solar installations:

The ERS (Economic Research Service, USDA) approximates solar’s footprint as of 2020 at 336,000 acres of rural land based on the total solar production capacity installed in U.S. Census designated rural areas. As solar capacity has more than doubled since 2020 and is increasingly coming from utility-scale solar, this estimate is woefully out-of-date. Using SIEA’s current estimate of 200 GW of installed solar capacity, ERS’s estimate of 7.5 acres used per MW of production, and AFT’s estimate that 83% of solar installations are on farmland, we roughly estimate that 1.25 million acres of farmland have been converted for use in solar production. While that may be a startlingly high number to some, it would represent 0.14% of the 879 million acres of farmland in the United States.

“No matter where you’re at in the U.S., the land beside you or the land in your community could be next,” says Smit. “How many panels will they put in if they can get away with it?”

(Photo by iStock)

Whether eyesore and erasure, or energy godsend and income windfall, the pressure from solar installations and data centers on rural landowners and communities is just beginning, Kate Smit says.

“We’re supposed to say nothing while solar panels and data centers explode, and we’re told about the wonders of green, renewable energy,” she concludes. “If it’s all so well and good, then who wants one outside your bedroom window?”

For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:

When Conservation Backfires: Landowner Defeats Feds in Mindboggling Private Property Case

Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told

How the Deep State Tried, and Failed, to Crush an American Farmer

Game of Horns: Iowa Poacher’s Antler Addiction Leads to Historic Bust

Ghost Cattle: $650M Ponzi Rocks Livestock Industry, Money Still Missing

44 Million Acres: The New Frontier of Farm Consolidation and Growth

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 18:00:31 GMT

At the 2026 Top Producer Summit , Farm Journal Intelligence unveiled new farmland insights derived from predictive modeling and deep-data analysis. The research focused on the shifting landscape of land acquisition, identifying which operations are at risk of consolidation, who is positioned for growth and where the most significant opportunities lie.

Here are the six primary findings for farm businesses:

1. Scale Does Not Immune Operations from Consolidation.

(Farm Journal)

While smaller operations face the highest risk — with 58% of small farms “at risk” for sale or acquisition before 2030 — size is not a complete safeguard. Research shows the risk of consolidation or ownership transfer never drops below 27%, even for the largest operations. Furthermore, crop diversity made minimal impact on these odds; the likelihood of transition remains constant whether a farm produces one crop or more than 11.

2. Geography Trumps Diversification.

(Farm Journal)

Regional location is increasingly becoming a primary driver of financial success, often outweighing the benefits of operational diversification. As regional market divides grow, farmers and ranchers are finding that local market conditions and individual circumstances dictate their trajectory more. State-level or even county-level effects are more indicative of their situation than national trends.

3. The 44-Million-Acre Transition.

(Farm Journal)

Nearly 15% of American cropland is projected to change hands within the next three years, driven by generational transfers, continued consolidation and economic pressures. Farm Journal data identifies the Midwest as the epicenter of this shift, with roughly 12 million acres likely to transition. Nationwide, that total reaches a staggering 44 million acres.

4. Mapping the “Sweet Spot” for Expansion.

(Farm Journal)

By plotting cost per cropland acre against the volume of land likely to transition, clear opportunities for expansion emerge. For producers looking to grow their footprint, the most viable opportunities are currently concentrated in Kansas, Texas, North Dakota, Missouri, and Oklahoma, according to this research.

5. Integrity Is the Top Currency in Rental Markets.

(Farm Journal)

When more than 400 landowners were surveyed about tenant selection, integrity ranked as the most critical factor. Interestingly, age was reported as the least important factor. For producers looking to secure rented ground, a reputation for character and experience outweighs both seniority and youth.

6. The “Willingness” Factor in Technology.

(Farm Journal)

Producers most inclined to expand share a common trait: a higher comfort level and rate of adoption with technology. Crucially, this is not necessarily tied to technical skill or existing expertise, but rather to mindset and action. The most growth-oriented producers are defined by their willingness to try new technologies rather than their current mastery of them.

Download the Full Report

Preserving the Future: How Tennessee is Protecting Farmland While Driving Development

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:59:16 GMT

How is Tennessee, one of the fastest-growing states in the country, balancing economic development while still protecting farmland? Gov. Bill Lee says it’s one of the state’s greatest challenges, but he believes there is a way to do both.

Last year, Lee signed the Tennessee Farmland Preservation Act into law, tasking the Tennessee Department of Agriculture with developing a grant program to incentivize farmland owners to voluntarily enroll their land in a permanent conservation easement.

“We lose 9 acres an hour to development,” Lee said at the 2026 Top Producer Summit . “We recognize that agriculture is our No. 1 driver of our economy, so we have to preserve farmland. This act will incentivize farm property, and agriculture property in particular, to be put in land trusts so it can never be developed. This effort has been widely accepted by farmers and is beginning to take effect.”

Where is the Push for Economic Development in Tennessee?

Although economic development is taking place in many different forms, the state of Tennessee is seeing a big push for data centers. For some farmers, this could be the revenue generator they’ve been waiting on, but for others, it’s a contentious issue.

“If we are going to have a data center, it has to work for all of us,” Lee says. “Most important is that the impact on the grid for power is one that our state can effectively manage.”

He believes the data centers and the companies behind them should be partners with the state and with regulatory bodies.

“They should come in and say, ‘If we’re going to come here, this is what we will deliver to the state,’” Lee says. “Besides just the investment in dollars and what they will take from the grid, how will they deliver to the state?”

AI, a major data center and supercomputing facility in Memphis, is an example of a good partnership, he says.

“They are producing their own power and contributing to the grid. It’s a great partnership and model for things that we should be looking for in the future,” Lee adds.

How is Tennessee Helping Farmers?

Tennessee crop farmers are feeling pain right now like their peers across the country.

“It’s a tough environment for crop farmers,” Lee says. “We’ve seen the staggering losses some of our producers have experienced. But they’re very resilient people. They know that a few years ago, crop prices were good. Right now, they’re really bad. A lot of patience is required in farming, and they know that.”

Stability and predictability are nearly impossible to have in agriculture, he says. But he’s working to help provide stability and predictability from a federal standpoint through ag policy efforts.

“I think that’s what farmers look for more than anything,” Lee says. “They don’t want a rescue or an immediate solution to the problem they have. I think farmers want some indication of what stability looks like and what predictability looks like and what they can expect in the future.”

From a livestock standpoint, Tennessee has been investing heavily in the development of more local processing options.

“We do believe that locally sourced products are helpful to our own ag community,” he says. “To the degree that we can facilitate that in this state, we ought to do it. We’ve broadly expanded our ability to process beef in this state. We’re not nearly where we need to be, but we’re headed in the right direction.”

Creating a Pipeline for Agriculture

Lee is passionate about thinking about the future and creating pathways for skilled trades, especially in the agriculture industry. His experience running a company in the skilled trades business — plumbers, pipefitters, electricians and welders — has helped him see the need firsthand.

“One of the most important things we can do is recognize that kids’ giftings are really different,” Lee says.

Lee’s passion to better meet the demand for skilled labor came to fruition through the Governor’s Investment in Vocational Education (GIVE) Act.

“It created, initially, a $1-million program in high schools for vocational, technical and agricultural education programs,” he says. “It led to $500 million in middle school career and technical education programs, and ultimately $1 billion in our colleges of technology that deliver ag education, technical education and vocational education. We have removed the waitlist for our colleges of technology. We’re delivering 10,000 more workers a year who are skilled tradesmen.”

He believes it’s one of the reasons Tennessee has so many global companies making the decision to come to the state.

“We have a lot of activity here economically because the state with the workers is going to win every time,” Lee says. “We started seven years ago by creating a workforce that was much more diverse than what it had been previously, and that includes agricultural education.”

As a cattle producer and proud Tennessean, Lee says he’s most proud of how he’s helped support the state’s future in agriculture by investing in youth and the technologies that will be the future.

“It will be fun for me to look back years from now and say, ‘I’m really glad we did that. Ag was No. 1 in Tennessee when I was there, and ag is still No. 1 in Tennessee now that I’ve been gone,’” he says. “That’s what I hope for.”

New Data Supports Stable Farmland Market

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 13:07:06 GMT

Year over year, Iowa farmland values are down 2.2%. That’s the latest result from The Realtors Land Institute Iowa Chapter survey, where participants were asked to estimate the average value of farmland as of September 1, 2025.

(Realtors Institute, Iowa Chapter)

In the past six months, the statewide average showed a 1.2% decrease. The six months before that resulted in a 1% decrease. This is all for tillable acres.

Iowa Realtors say this continues the sideways trend for land values since the market spiked in 2021 and 2022.

“The market is continuing to confirm it’s stubbornly stable,” says Matt Vegter, Hertz Farm Real Estate. “To post the numbers we did with the uncertainty in the market with tariffs, the price of corn and soybeans, it’s really a bright spot in the farmland market.”

Survey respondents say the market is stable despite bearish corn and soybean prices.
What’s helping stand up the market are:

Lack of inventory
Expectation for an above average crop for most of Iowa
Strong cattle prices

Vegter says for his area of business, central Iowa, listings are down 10% to 20%, and that holds true across most of the state.

“The summer is normally slow, but this was extra slow,” he says. “Typically inventory picks up in the fall through the winter, and we are expecting an average season ahead.”

Pasture acre values across the state trended flat or up for every reporting district, ranging from 0% to +6.8%. Per acre average values range from $4,498 to $5,504 per acre.
Looking ahead through the winter, which is traditionally a time for higher volume in transactions, the Realtor respondents are watching how farmland values could be effected.

“The strongest values are in northwest Iowa and northeast Iowa, where you have the most cattle feeder,” he says. “But those strong values can be attributed to how profitable cattle have been in the last year or two.”

All states in the Chicago Federal Reserve district, average a 3% percent increase in dollar value of “good” farmland from July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2025. And by state:

Illinois 0%
Indiana 3%
Iowa 4%
Wisconsin 11%

“We say that eight of 10 farms we sell are bought by a local farmer,” Vegter says. “That trend won’t change.”

Blood on the Farm: Booth, Lincoln, and 13 Days of Civil War Insanity

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 15:58:48 GMT

Bullet to the brain, from one farm boy to another.

When John Wilkes Booth fired a .44 lead ball into Abraham Lincoln’s head, the murder shook a nation to its core and led to 13 days of bedlam rivaling any stretch on U.S. record. Manhunts, scoundrels, eunuchs, and mass death followed, all tied by a common thread—agriculture.

Farming is not merely woven into the fabric of America, rather, it is the fabric. All of U.S. history is rooted in soil, no period arguably more so than the last gasp of Civil War carnage carried out by a surreal cast of characters, almost all pulled from agriculture’s stage.

Welcome to a bizarre tale bouncing from deranged assassins to scissored castration to a burning barn to lunatic asylums to the cruel deaths of over 1,000 emaciated soldiers, all soaked in the blood of American farming.

One Night, Four Corpses
Almost everyone. In 1775, of approximately 3.5 million people spread over 13 colonies, roughly 90% grew crops. Fast forward 85 years to the Civil War’s eve in 1860, and the ag flavor remained stout: Approximately 40% of Americans in the North and 80% of Americans in the South worked in dirt.

Roughly half of Union soldiers in the Civil War came directly off the farm.

(Photos courtesy of Library of Congress)

In 1861, as Blue versus Gray exploded into four years of hell, well over half of soldiers, 48% of the Union and almost 70% of the Confederacy, spilled straight from farmland onto battlefields. Simply, Billy Yank and Johnny Reb grew corn and cotton. The majority of 700,000 Civil War dead, North and South, came from farm families. Lincoln, in the closing month of the conflict, April 1865, recognized the agricultural origins of U.S. soldiers and the dire need to return them to row cropping, stating his intention “…get the men composing the Confederate armies back to their homes, at work at their farms and in their shops.”

Approximately 70% of Confederate soldiers entered the Civil War from Southern farms.

(Photos courtesy of Library of Congress)

On April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered in the McLean home at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. (Lee lost his 1,000-acre farm in 1861 to Union troops who later turned the property into Arlington National Cemetery.) Following the Confederacy’s capitulation, Northern cities erupted in spontaneous celebration with torchlight parades, fireworks, bands, and bonfires, but lost in the revelry, a dashing 26-year-old Marylander with a wavy shock of jet-black hair turned the crank on a wicked plot.

John Wilkes Booth, in league with a cabal of conspirators , aimed to murder the four highest U.S. holders of office or position in synchronized assassinations: President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of State William Seward, and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Ulysses S. Grant.

One night and four farmer corpses at the hand of a farm boy turned actor.

Kidnap or Kill
Killing presidents was in the DNA.

Twenty-seven miles north of Baltimore, in 1838, Booth was born on a 170-acre farm in a two-story, whitewashed log cabin, as the fourth son and ninth of 10 children of Mary Ann Holmes and Junius Brutus Booth, a famed stage performer, chronic alcoholic, notorious bigamist, and headbanger touched with a dose of insanity. Junius was a walking contradiction, equally comfortable quoting Shakespeare in tights under the limelight or raising livestock in isolation on the farm.

Junius Booth, left, built Tudor Hall on the family farm, but died just before it was completed. John Wilkes Booth lived in the house from 1852 to 1856.

(Photos courtesy of Library of Congress)

In a nutshell, Junius was buck-wild. Shot a man in the face, tried to stab another, assaulted multiple people, and was jailed on a loop. In 1835, he wrote a letter to President Andrew Jackson, threatening to kill the commander in chief.

You damn’d old Scoundrel … I will cut your throat whilst you are sleeping … look out or damn you I’ll have you burnt at the Stake in the City of Washington.

Your Master, Junius Brutus Booth. You know me! Look out!

At Junius’ death in 1852, John Wilkes Booth, a mere 15 years young, took the reins of the farm and made a go at raising crops on 80 arable acres. Booth’s ag effort fell short and he later followed the family path to the stage, acquiring national fame, alongside his brothers, as a renowned actor.

However, mirroring his father, Booth’s skin was as hard as bark, far from a soft-handed thespian dandy. His Southern sympathies boiled over at Lee’s surrender in 1865. Kidnap or kill, Booth was hellbent on action.

Tattooed Assassin
Seeded at least as early as 1864 and fueled by a motley crew of anti-Unionists and Confederate Secret Service players, Booth’s conspiracy petered out with the South’s April surrender—except in the eyes of a core group of collaborators. On April 14, with newspapers blaring Lincoln and Grant’s upcoming D.C. attendance at Ford’s Theatre to watch Our American Cousin from the flag-draped presidential box, alongside their wives, Mary Todd Lincoln and Julia Grant, Booth rolled the dice.

Kidnapping was out. (Booth and his cohorts had seriously considered abducting 6’ 4” Lincoln during Our American Cousin and lowering him with ropes from the balcony-level box before dashing away with the chief of state in tow.) Murder of four targets was in:

From left, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses Grant, and William Seward all were targeted for death on April 14.

(Photos courtesy of Library of Congress)

Lincoln, the founder of USDA, was the consummate hardscrabble farm kid, scratching dirt in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, before a career in law.

Johnson, despite a childhood apprenticeship as a tailor, was a significant agriculture advocate and owned a 350-acre farm in Tennessee.

Seward, 5’6” with red hair and a gigantic intellect, was born on a New York farm and maintained a sharp awareness of crop management. In 1856, responding to the dire fertilizer needs of growers, Seward spearheaded the Guano Islands Act and enabled U.S. acquisition of almost 100 islands (including the Midway Atoll) between 1856 and 1903, all in the name of acquiring bird feces. Shaped by his farming background, Seward understood the value of land better than anyone of his era. Only 11 years after the Guano Islands Act, Seward made one of the greatest land purchases in world history, paying $7.2 million for Alaska—375 million acres of land. Pilloried by the public and mocked in the press, Seward presciently said the Alaska deal, at less than 2 cents per acre, would be the crowning achievement of his career, but it would “take the people a generation to find out.”

Mary Todd Lincoln, left, and Julia Grant. Julia was invited, but declined to attend Ford’s Theatre on the night of April 14.

(Photos courtesy of Library of Congress)

Grant grew grain in Missouri, eating debt almost up to the Civil War. In 1857, he wrote to his father: “For two years I have been compelled to farm without either [tills or seeds], confining my attention therefore principally to oats and corn: two crops which can never pay.” Grant sold out in 1860, never to farm again.

All four gentlemen—Lincoln, Johnson, Seward, and Grant—were slated to die on the night of April 14. Lincoln and Grant would be attacked together during an evening play; Johnson would be hit at the five-story Kirkwood House Hotel by conspirator George Atzerodt; and Seward would be killed at his three-story home facing Lafayette Square near Pennsylvania Avenue by Booth henchman Lewis Powell.

However, on the Friday afternoon of April 14, Grant slipped the noose. His spouse, Julia, got cold feet, ostensibly avoiding a night out with the mercurial Mary Todd Lincoln. Grant, at the behest of Julia, declined Lincoln’s invitation to watch Our American Cousin, and skipped town, much to Booth’s distress.

The single-shot pistol used by Booth in Lincoln’s assassination.

(Photo courtesy of National Park Service)

Into the evening, Booth palmed his weapon of choice, a firearm that would shake history. It was a single-shot .44-caliber pistol (5.87” long, half a pound in weight, easily concealed in a pocket or boot top) made by Henry Deringer, the renowned Philadelphia gunsmith. Typically, Deringer’s pistols sold in pairs for $25, including the bullet mold. Did Booth have a set? He possessed at least one, and it was all he would need.

Holding the wrought iron barrel with his left hand, skin stretched to reveal an initialed J.W.B. tattoo between thumb and forefinger, Booth carefully used his right hand to load the pistol with a single, round ball weighing nearly an ounce—a projectile he may have poured and formed himself, keenly aware the lead was intended to kill a president for the first time in American history. Percussion cap at the ready, Booth’s firepower needs were met.

As nightfall approached, Booth was already 0 for 1 in assassination success, thanks to Grant’s departure from D.C. Three targets remained.

A Maniac’s Passion
Alone in his second-story room at the Kirkwood House Hotel, Andrew Johnson was easy pickings. No security. No bodyguard. (Secret Service protection for vice presidents did not begin until 1951. Significantly, SS details for presidents began in 1901, following the assassination of William McKinley.)

George Atzerodt, 30, checked into the Kirkwood in his own name on the third floor, directly above Johnson. He was supposed to knock on the door of the VP’s two-room suite and deliver a shot to the head. Instead, Atzerodt lost his nerve and balked, bought a bottle of liquor, and spent the evening outdoors in a stupor.

By 10 p.m., Booth was 0 for 2. Seward and Lincoln were still on the board.

Assassins three, from left: David Herold, George Atzerodt, and Lewis Powell.

(Photos courtesy of Library of Congress)

A short walk from the Kirkwood, inside a red-brick mansion perched a stone’s throw from the White House, resting in a third-floor bedroom illuminated by gaslight, tended by his daughter, Fanny, 20, along with a veteran recovering from battlefield wounds as a nursing backup, Seward, 63, was suffering. Nine days prior, on April 5, in a gruesome, runaway carriage accident, he was thrown to the road and fractured an arm near the shoulder joint, and broke both sides of his jaw, followed by massive blood loss. Doctors sheathed Seward in a canvas-metal brace extending from face to shoulders.

His condition prompted immediate concern from a traveling Lincoln. Returning to D.C. after a triumphant trip to the recently captured Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., on April 9, the same day of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Lincoln made a direct visit to check on Seward—likely the most trusted cabinet member of the administration. The two men exchanged war updates and hopes for the country, and then Lincoln walked home to the White House. The pair of friends would never speak or see each other again.

Days after Lincoln’s visit, and simultaneous with Atzerodt’s assassination failure, young Lewis Powell stood on Lafayette Square, staring at the red mansion. Powell, 21, was pulled straight from Hollywood casting. Blessed with a movie star’s chiseled looks and 6’2” of height, he was the son of an Alabama-Florida cotton-growing preacher. Powell fought valiantly and was wounded at Gettysburg, later rode with the famed Mosby’s Rangers , and lost two brothers in the war.

Just past 10 p.m., carrying a purported bag of medicine, Powell rapped on the front door of Seward’s mansion. Wary at the late visit, Seward’s butler answered the door. Powell excitedly announced possession of critical meds sent by Seward’s doctor and claimed to be under direct orders to hand-deliver the cure-all to the secretary of state. The butler refused to buy the story; a heated argument ensued; Powell stormed into the house; bounded up the stairs; and began searching for his prey.

Running toward the commotion, Seward’s son, Frederick, met Powell on the third-floor landing. Powell pulled a .36 caliber Whitney revolver, leveled the pistol, and pulled the trigger. Misfire.

Enraged, he flipped the pistol and swiftly swung downward, fracturing Seward’s skull with several blows as the gun broke. Hearing the chaos, Fanny made a near-fatal error, opening the bedroom door to check on her brother, but inadvertently giving away Seward’s precise location. Powell swatted Fanny aside, knocked over the male nurse, and pulled a Bowie knife, slashing wildly at the helpless Seward. With a maniac’s passion, Powell repeatedly stabbed into Seward’s neck and chest. Two former farm boys—one turned politician and the other turned soldier—locked in a primal struggle.

Fanny Seward, left, alongside her father, William. Lewis Powell is pictured in cuffs, far right, awaiting execution. A year after her father’s near murder, Fanny, 21, died of tuberculosis in October 1865.

(Photos courtesy of Library of Congress)

On almost any other night under any other circumstances, the wounds would have been fatal. However, the canvas-metal brace was Seward’s salvation, deflecting the worst of the blade’s thrusts. Assuming the deed was done, Powell sprinted away from the horror, dropped the knife on the street, and disappeared in the darkness, shouting: I’m mad. I’m mad.

Inside the home, drenched in blood and barely clinging to life, Seward stirred: I am not dead. Send for a doctor. Send for the police. Close the house.

It was 10:15 p.m. Booth was 0 for 3. Time to pull the trigger himself.

Rathbone’s Regret
Leaving his horse behind Ford’s Theatre, Booth, wearing a long coat and spurred, calf-high boots, entered the playhouse with intimate knowledge of the structure’s layout, from creaks to cracks to corridors to stage passageways. Booth was a fixture at Ford’s Theatre and had free reign, often receiving fan mail at the Tenth Street address.

Roughly 1,700 people were in attendance, including Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, alongside their guest couple replacement, Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée, Clara Harris. Lincoln sat in a cushioned rocker nearest the presidential box door, Mary Todd to his right, Clara Harris next, and Rathbone last, furthest from the door on a walnut sofa.

Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris, who attended Ford’s Theatre with the Lincolns. Twenty years later, Rathbone went insane and murdered Clara.

(Photos courtesy of Library of Congress)

During Act 3, Scene 2, Booth made his move, stepping unchallenged into the presidential box, while jamming the door behind him. With all eyes glued to the stage, Booth leveled the pistol roughly 7”-10” behind Lincoln’s head and pulled the trigger, sending the Deringer’s .44 caliber ball tumbling through the left back side of the president’s skull at ear level. The bullet traversed Lincoln’s brain and lodged behind his right eye.

(Irony of ironies, Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln was saved from death either in 1863 or 1864 after falling off a train platform in Jersey City, N.J. His rescuer? Edwin Booth, older brother of John Wilkes Booth. Edwin, a staunch Unionist, lifted 19-year-old Robert Todd to safety just as railcar wheels rolled. Extraordinarily, Robert Todd would be present or within proximity of three presidential assassinations: Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley.)

History never moves in straight lines: Robert Todd Lincoln and Edwin Booth, the odd couple.

(Photos courtesy of Library of Congress)

As Rathbone rose from the sofa in response, Booth pulled a horn-handled dagger and slashed through Rathbone’s upper arm, severing an artery. Booth then vaulted over the box railing to the stage below before a stunned audience, breaking his left fibula (accounts vary; possibly Booth broke the leg later on horseback) before escaping out the back of Ford’s Theatre and riding out of D.C. over the Navy Yard Bridge across the Anacostia River into Maryland.

Mortally wounded and unconscious, Lincoln was hustled across the street to a boarding house and lingered for nine hours, officially dying the following morning on April 15. (Rathbone was consumed with guilt and depression over his inability to stop Booth. In 1883, he went crazy and attempted to attack his three children. When Clara intervened, Rathbone shot her three times and stabbed her repeatedly in the heart. Rathbone then attempted suicide, stabbing himself five times in the chest. He spent the rest of his life in a lunatic asylum, dying in 1911.)

Riding into the night, Booth linked up with accomplice David Herold, a 23-year-old who knew the countryside and would guide the escape. Where would Booth go? To a farm, of course. Booth would bounce from farm to farm, one step ahead of thousands of federal soldiers on his trail in a colossal 12-day manhunt.

In D.C., as the War Department began flushing out Booth’s cronies to uncover the machinations of the conspiracy, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton dropped a $100,000 reward, and gave explicit instruction to all soldiers in pursuit: Bring me Booth on two legs. I want him alive.

However, among the soldiers spreading across the countryside was an insane sergeant who only took orders from on high. Boston Corbett, who had once snipped off his privates and then attended a prayer meeting, had Booth in his sights.

Avenging Angel
The escape was a dizzying blitz of farm visits.

Booth and Herold reached the farm of Dr. Samuel Mudd at 4 a.m., where the doc splinted Booth’s broken leg. The pair of fugitives next rode to Samuel Cox’s farm for aid, and then hid in a pine thicket for several days, assisted by another farmer, Thomas Jones, who took Booth and Herold to his house before giving them a boat to cross the Potomac.

Photographed just after the rope drop, four conspirators dangle on the gallows: Mary Surratt, the first woman ever executed by the federal government, along with Powell, Atzerodt, and Herold.

(Photo courtesy of Library of Congress)

On April 21, their river crossing attempt failed. They landed nine miles away, still in Maryland, and took shelter at the farm of John J. Hughes. The next night, they succeeded in crossing the Potomac, landing in Virginia, where they went to the farm of Elizabeth Quesenberry, who offered food but no help. Afterward, Booth and Herold hired a farmer, William Bryant, to take them to Richard Stuart’s farmhouse, and from there were unwelcomed at the home of another farmer, Randolph Peyton. After 11 days on the run, desperate for cover, only 70 miles south of Ford’s Theatre, Booth stopped at a 500-acre operation in Port Royal, Virginia. It was April 25: He gambled on the Garrett farm and rolled snake-eyes.

One night later, asleep in the Garrett’s tobacco barn, Booth and Herold were cornered by 20 U.S. cavalrymen. Herold exited the barn and surrendered. (Two-and-a-half months later, Herold, along with Powell and Atzerodt, felt the dangling crack of rope on neck. They were hanged in unison on July 7.) Booth vowed a fight to the death as federal soldiers set fire to the barn.

While flames rose and threw light across the barn’s interior, a diminutive eunuch crept along the perimeter and peered into the barn. Sergeant Boston Corbett, Lincoln’s 5’4” avenging angel, stuck a pistol between a crack in the planks and aimed a .44 Colt revolver at an illuminated Booth.

The Cruelest Cut
Mercury to drive a man mad.

Born in 1832, Thomas Corbett ranks among the most peculiar and enigmatic Americans on record. At 7, Corbett moved from London to New York, later apprenticing as a hat maker, a trade synonymous with mercury poisoning, resulting in a lifetime of “hatters’ shakes,” as well as hallucinations and psychosis.

Boston Corbett, among the most bizarre characters in American history.

(Photos courtesy of Library of Congress)

Corbett married, lost his wife and stillborn daughter in childbirth, found solace in the bottle, and moved to Boston, where he continued work (and mercury ingestion) as a hatter. After hearing an evangelist’s sermon, Corbett gave up drinking and devoted himself to piety, growing his hair apostle-style, and preaching on street corners.

However, Corbett careened beyond religious devotion into zealotry. In 1858, walking home after a church service, he was propositioned by prostitutes. Offended or tempted, Corbett took solace in the New Testament, opening the Gospel of Matthew, and read chapters 18 and 19. He took Matthew 18:8 to heart: Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

Matthew 19:12 cut even deeper: For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.

Corbett interpreted chapters 18 and 19 as a directive. He sliced off his testicles, went to church, took a walk, and ate a big supper, all before seeing a doctor. From a subsequent Massachusetts General Hospital report: … he took a pair of scissors & made an opening an inch long in the lower part of the scrotum. He then drew down the testes & cut them both off. He then went to a prayer meeting walked about some & ate a hearty dinner. There was not much external hemorrhage, but a clot had filled the opening so that the blood was confined in the scrotum which swelled immensely & was black. He called on Dr. Hodges (R. M.) who laid it open & removed the blood; he tied the cord & sent him here.

In tandem with emasculation and a month’s hospital stay, Corbett changed his first name to “Boston” as a benchmark of seismic life change. At the Civil War’s outbreak, he joined the Union Army and began berating officers who took the Lord’s name in vain, resulting in a court martial and sentence of execution for insubordination. Instead, likely related to his mental condition, the sentence was commuted, and he was tossed out of the Army.

Corbett re-enlisted, fought valiantly in combat, and was captured by Confederates in June 1864, before imprisonment in Georgia’s infamous Andersonville POW camp under the control of Commander Henry Wirz, where 33,000 Union soldiers were crammed in 26.5 acres. In a prisoner exchange, Corbett was released from Andersonville in November 1864. (After the war, he would testify in court against Wirz, who was executed for war crimes.)

Corbett spent weeks in recovery from extreme malnourishment at Andersonville and then rejoined his regiment, months later landing in the thick of the manhunt for Lincoln’s killer, then onto the Garrett farm, and despite the infinitesimally incredible odds—to within 12’ of Booth.

On April 26, 1865, at 2 a.m., as Booth held a carbine and refused to surrender, Corbett fired his pistol through the barn slats and hit Booth in the neck, severing his spinal cord and shattering the fourth and fifth vertebrae. Three hours later, essentially paralyzed, Booth, at 26, died on the front porch of the Garrett home, taking a trove of secrets to the grave. He was sewn into a horse blanket, dropped on a wooden plank, and carted away from the hapless Garrett farm.

The spot outside Port Royal, Virginia, where the Garrett farmhouse and tobacco barn once stood.

(Photos public domain)

Despite defying capture-alive-at-all-costs orders, Corbett was firm in his action: “Providence directed me.” Initially arrested for disobeying orders, Corbett was released and given a $1,600 portion of the Booth reward money. He went west, homesteading on 80 acres in Cloud County, Kansas, where he lived in a one-room, rock-wall dugout. In 1886, despite extreme paranoia and unpredictability, he was granted a doorman’s post at the Kansas House of Representatives, but after pulling a gun and threatening colleagues, Corbett was committed to the Topeka Insane Asylum in 1887. A year later, he escaped on a pony, rode south to Wilson County, and caught a train to parts unknown. Corbett faded into history, leaving behind no confirmed record of his whereabouts or death.

Soldiers and Sardines
The cruelest twist of the Civil War and one of the greatest indignities inflicted on American prisoners of war was yet to come.

Almost three weeks past Appomattox, 1,000-plus young Union soldiers died a terrifying death, just days away from a return to their fields and homes.

(Photos courtesy of Library of Congress)

While Booth was on the lam, hiding on rural farms, thousands of malnourished farm boy POWs were moving across the South by foot, wagon, and rail, desperate for a golden ticket home. In the closing months of the war, North-South prisoner exchanges picked up in pace, and by mid-April, Union prisoners needed transportation home. For many soldiers housed in roughly 16 Confederate prison camps in the Deep South, the quickest way home was by steamship up the Mississippi River. Therefore, camps such as Andersonville, Ga., and Cahaba, Ala., sent their POW inmates west to Vicksburg, Mississippi, to catch a ride upriver.

Below the Vicksburg bluffs, an armada of private steamships waited as POWs arrived in town, all fares paid courtesy of the Union Army: $2.75 per soldier and $8 per officer. The substantial money, intended to incentivize captains to provide a quick return home for Union troops, instead turned into a pay-and-pack recipe of horror. As in, an unscrupulous captain might view soldiers as sardines.

Across farms and homes in Iowa, Ohio, Minnesota, and other Union states, thousands of expectant families waited for the promised return of sons, brothers, and husbands. But 1,200 of these families, in the Civil War’s last bloody rattle, unknowingly were about to lose their scions—young men who had survived combat, wounds, disease, emotional trauma, imprisonment, and starvation. They would not survive betrayal.

Human Cargo
She was almost the length of a football field. She was Sultana. Almost three weeks beyond Appomattox, her demise would drag over 1,000 young servicemen to a horrid end, and a hefty percentage of the dead would be farm boys, days away from a return to their fields.

At 260’ long and 42’ wide, Sultana cut current at 10 miles per hour and carried a 376-passsenger capacity with operating room for 80 crew members. Captained by 34-year-old James Cass Mason of St. Louis, Sultana chugged up and down the Mississippi River, typically running cotton, sugar, and hogs.

Thomas W. Bankes photographed Sultana when the ship stopped in Helena, Arkansas, only one day prior to disaster.

(Photo courtesy of Library of Congress)

Piloting Sultana into Vicksburg from New Orleans on April 23, Mason came to collect a plum offer from Reuben Hatch, regional chief quartermaster for the Union Army. Hatch wanted to wet his beak: He could funnel 1,000 POW parolees onto Sultana if Mason returned a kickback under the table. Deal.

However, one of Sultana’s four boilers was faulty and needed immediate, proper repair. Overwhelmed by profit potential, Mason relied on a minor boiler patch, essentially turning Sultana into a time bomb. On April 24, Hatch provided human cargo for Sultana—but whether by graft or incompetence, Hatch doubled his POW offering.

It was madness. Roughly 2,137 people (including 50 women and children) were stuffed onto the ship, according to the Sultana Association : “1,960 ex-prisoners, 22 guards, 85 crew members, and 70 paying passengers.”

By sheer weight of humanity, the upper decks sagged, forcing the crew to brace with beams. Never before (or since), had so many passengers packed a boat on the Mississippi River. Churning into swollen spring current, bound for Cairo, Illinois, Sultana left Vicksburg with bodies crammed in every nook and cranny—gaunt soldiers who had braved the firestorms of Shiloh and Chickamauga, and survived the hell of Andersonville. Spread across the decks, they talked of home and farming. Maybe, just maybe, a few dared to hope, they might be home in time to plant.

No More Tears
Dragging heavy camera equipment, anxious to snap a picture of a bulging Sultana on the morning of April 26, Thomas Bankes hustled to banks of the Mississippi River in Helena, Ark., roughly 175 miles north of Vicksburg.

Eighty-four days after the murder of Lincoln, four assassin/conspirators were jerked to eternity on July 7, 1865.

(Photo courtesy of Library of Congress)

As Bankes got into position, cheerful soldiers rushed starboard in excitement, anxious for inclusion in the photo. Sultana listed. The ship’s crew began barking direction, ordering men away from the side to restore balance on the top-heavy steamboat. It was a pregnant moment for Captain Cass and a final warning.

He carried on upriver.

At 2 a.m. the following morning, 7 miles north of Memphis near Marion, Arkansas, Sultana’s boilers exploded, tearing the ship apart. By blast, fire, and drowning, 1,169 passengers died—the single deadliest maritime disaster in U.S. history.

It was April 27, 1865, one day after the death of Booth. In a sense, the country’s sympathies were bled out, i.e., no more tears left to cry. News coverage was relatively scant, still dominated by events of the preceding weeks. Time to move on.

Lincon and Booth, farm boy to farm boy, and a story deeply connected by American agriculture.

(Photos courtesy of Library of Congress)

The crescendo of events was historically surreal. April 9, Confederate surrender and Union celebration; April 14, murder of Lincoln, attempted assassinations of Seward and Johnson, and intended killing of Grant; April 15, Lincoln’s death; April 19, Lincoln’s funeral. April 26: Booth’s death. April 27, the forgotten loss of 1,000-plus soldiers.

Beneath outer layers, each event linked directly to U.S. agriculture—as does every narrative of U.S. history. The tapestry in undeniable: Farming is the fabric of the American story.

For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:

How the Deep State Tried, and Failed, to Crush an American Farmer

Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told

Family Farm Wins Historic Case After Feds Violate Constitution and Ruin Business

County Shuts Down 15-Yr-Old’s Bait Stand on Family Farm, Threatens Daily Fines

City Gov to Seize 175-Year-Old Farm by Eminent Domain, Replace with Affordable Housing

Game of Horns: Iowa Poacher’s Antler Addiction Leads to Historic Bust

Farmer Unearths Lost Treasure, Solves WW2 Mystery

Farmland Lease Renewals: What Will Cash Rents Be in 2026?

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 17:27:14 GMT

Right now, land values and cash rents are top of mind for farmers.

Take Iowa for example: Sept. 1 is the deadline for any current farm leases to be terminated unless they are to remain in place for the upcoming year. And about half of Iowa’s crop ground is farmed with a cash rent or crop share lease.

“We continue to be amazed by the resiliency of the ag land market. When we look at the farm economy and commodity markets, and the fact that we can sustain the high land values that we set over the past five years, it’s just pretty amazing,” says Paul Schadegg, president at Farmers National Company. He’s been in professional farm management for more than 25 years, and just a few weeks ago was promoted within FNC to his new role.

Specific for cash rents, the survey data provided by USDA and land grant universities looks back at the previous year. You can read the latest cash rent survey results from Iowa State here.

(Data: USDA)

However, as it’s renewal season, Schadegg says he thinks overall, cash rents will be flat on average.

“Probably, cash rents will be somewhat flat. There might be pockets where we might see some depression because of weather events or just the ag economy,” he says. “But if we continue to see an erosion of commodity markets, that’s a discussion that’s going to have to be made as we go through ‘26 and negotiating into ‘27.”

Schadegg adds a lot of cash rents FNC deals with have evolved to flex leases.

“With these flex leases, you’re protected on the upside and the downside a little bit, so there might not need to be big adjustments, but that does help account for the change in commodity markets,” he says.

Overall Farmland Trends
Schadegg starts with supply and demand. Current farmland real estate listings are down 25% compared to recent highs from 2021 to 2023.

“There are simply more motivated buyers right now than there are willing sellers. So, that has put a somewhat of a funnel on the amount of land being offered for sale,” he says. “When you have these motivated buyers — which are still primarily farm operators — they’re being pushed by investors.”

He says the combination of strong farmer-led demand plus the elevated interest from investors is what’s holding the floor on farmland values. Whereas five years ago, a strong farmland market was solidified by higher commodity prices.

“I think we’re going to reach somewhat of a tipping point where it doesn’t make a lot of sense for a farm operator to buy a piece of land if he can’t cash flow it,” Schadegg says. “If it’s better for him to step back and let an investor buy it, with a pretty good chance he might be able to farm it, they will concentrate their capital expenses on equipment and things they need to run their operation.”

If there’s one factor to watch in the farmland values equation today, it’s the ag economy.

“Profitability for the operator and for the landowner is what’s really going to decide what direction land values go,” he says. “Although we focus most of our attention [at FNC] on representing the landowner, we also have to take into account we’re working with these operators. They’re a very important part of this equation, and if it’s not profitable for them, they’re not going be farming the ground very long. And if it’s not profitable for the landowner, they’re not going to retain ownership.”

As for development pressure, Schadegg shares that has tampered a bit since COVID but is still a factor. Notably, renewable energy development has slowed since the Trump administration took over in 2025.

“Wind especially has experienced the drawback. A lot of projects have been canceled because of the cost to build wind and the infrastructure involved,” Schadegg says. “However, with solar, we continue to see some pretty good interest in building larger-scale solar projects. One of the big reasons for that is a simple statement: it’s the quickest way to the grid.”

He notes while coal-fired power plants or nuclear power plants could take decades for approval, a solar project can be up and going in 18 months.

Land Values ‘Remarkably Stable’ Across the Country

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 21:20:51 GMT

Halfway through 2025, land values remain stable across the country despite reverberating uncertainty in the agricultural outlook. And while zooming out to a national level values appear stable, there are some geographic areas showing decline in values.

“The USDA forecasts 2025 net farm income to be the lowest since 2020. This will likely influence producer purchasing power and investor returns, especially as input costs, commodity prices, and interest rates fluctuate,” says Paul Schadegg, senior vice president of real estate for Farmers National Company. “While balance sheets generally remain strong, any negative movements in the ag economy could quickly impact the land market.”

Ty Kreitman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve District reports that from its survey of ag lenders across its district, the average value of non-irrigated farmland declined about 2% from a year ago in the first quarter of 2025. Click here for more from Kreitman.

Commenting on demand, a majority of farmland buyers are farmers, and as such, Schadegg says farmer profitability will be the driver of future farmland value trends.

Regarding supply, the overall market has listings down 25% from the peak inventories in 2020-2021. FNC marketed more than $450 in land in the first six months of 2025. And Schadegg notes an observation that many farm landowners are choosing the stability of the investment in the land’s appreciation rather than selling the property.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago reports the amount of farmland listed for sale was down during the winter and early spring of 2025 compared to 2024. For more takeaways from the Chicago Fed’s survey, click here.

Looking ahead, the survey from the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank also reflects stability as lenders across that district expect farmland values to continue to be stable. Its survey includes takeaways from the second quarter, which you can find here.

Regional Updates

With its mid-year annual report, FNC managers highlight the trends of their regions.

Kansas, Eastern Colorado and Western Missouri

“High-quality farmland values from Colorado through Kansas to Missouri remain steady despite regional differences in rainfall and soil types,” says Steve Morgan, area sales manager with FNC. “Since July 2024, some tracts have sold for more than 5% above market in competitive auctions, while others have dipped slightly below last year’s prices.”

Average prices per acre:

$5,800 in Kansas
$7,500 in Missouri
$3,500 in Oklahoma

Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky

“Farms that enter the market with a high percentage of tillable acres, highly productive soil types and in areas with large farm operators will still sell for values within 90% to 95% of the range seen from 2021 to 2023. Farms with fewer tillable acres and lower-quality soils will be priced 10% to 20% below the market highs of a few years ago,” says Jay Van Gorden, area sales manager for FNC.

He says the territory has up to 30% fewer sales than the previous three-year trend, but Van Gorden says that could change to pay down debt, generate operating capital or farmer retirement.

Illinois and Wisconsin

“After a clear softening in late 2024 and early 2025, the Illinois and Wisconsin farmland markets are showing signs of stabilization, especially in regions with high soil productivity and local operator demand,” says Jim Ferguson, relationship executive at FNC. “Despite short-term caution, both sellers and buyers seem more confident than they were in late 2024 or early Q1 2025.”

Ferguson says a characteristic of today’s market is buyers and sellers are enter negotiations with “more balanced expectations.”

“This isn’t a return to the peak-level bidding wars of recent years, but it’s also not a market in retreat. Well-marketed properties with strong soils, good drainage and favorable locations are still attracting strong interest,” he says.

Dakotas and Western Minnesota

“Many expected a correction in 2024 or 2025, but the upper Midwest continues to defy that trend,” says Troy Swee, area sales manager at FNC. He cites:

a 5.7% increase in land values in South Dakota during the second half of 2024, according to Farm Credit Services.
a 1.6% rise in Minnesota for the same period, also according to Farm Credit Services.
a 10.55% increase in eastern North Dakota after two straight years of decline, according to North Dakota State University.

“Tighter balance sheets are also decreasing the number of qualified bidders at land auctions,” he says. “Still, the outlook remains steady. With harvest months away, early signs indicate another strong crop across much of the region. If that holds true, land values and cash rents are likely to stay stable through the end of the year.”

Western Nebraska, Northwest Kansas and Northeastern Colorado

Higher interest rates and lower commodity prices are not putting farmers in this region in a position to expand, says Cole Nickerson, area sales manager at FNC.

“These financial pressures have narrowed margins for many producers, resulting in more cautious land investment behavior,” he says. “As a result, we are seeing a decline in public land listings throughout the territory. Additionally, there has been a slight shift from public auction to traditional listings as sellers aim to protect their investment value.”

Nickerson says a bright spot in the geography’s land market is pasture and hay acres.

“All-time highs in feeder cattle prices, along with elevated cash rental rates, have supported strong demand for grazing land. Hardland pastures with quality fences and excellent access are attracting the most interest from buyers. Although higher cattle prices have brought positivity to the local land market, it hasn’t been enough to offset the broader decline in average land value across the region,” he says.

Recently released data from the University of Nebraska shows for the first time in six years, the state’s land values went backward. Overall, average land values declined 2% to $3,935 an acre.

Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa

When reflecting on land value trends, Chanda Scheuring, area sales manager at FNC, says the biggest question is how long can the current levels be maintained.

“As the agricultural economy has less readily available cash than in previous years, some farmers are or already have started to feel pressure from their financial lenders,” Scheuring says. “Discussions about tightening budgets and even selling a quarter of their land have been topics some local loan officers have suggested to a few of their clients.”

The buyer pool is shrinking in number of producers who have the ability to expand in the current ag economy.

Texas

With cautious optimism, Sawyer Breeding, real estate sales and ranch manager at FNC, says the fast build up in values during the COVID pandemic has tempered to more normal.

“Prices remain relatively steady, with a moderate year-over-year growth of 1.32% in 2025 for rural real estate in Texas,” Breeding says. “Properties are selling at a moderate pace, with some listings staying on the market longer than in previous years. Buyers are becoming more focused on higher-quality properties. Both buyers and sellers should approach the market with a focus on long-term value, considering factors such as land improvements, water rights and access to utilities, all of which can significantly affect a property’s desirability and worth.”

Iowa and Southern Minnesota

Supply drives the market in Iowa, says Thomas Schutter, area sales manager at FNC.

“As prices softened last year, many potential sellers chose to hold off, leading to tighter supply and a new market dynamic. With land supply down, we saw a slight uptick in prices by the end of Q1 2025. Several auctions across the state reached levels comparable to the highs of 2022 and 2023,” he says.

He says lower grain prices and strained working capital brought a resurgence of farmer leasebacks and off-market opportunities for investors in farmland.

USDA Takes 'Bold Action' to Crack Down on Foreign-Owned Farmland, Targets China

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 19:04:06 GMT

The Trump administration is focusing on national security in agriculture, which includes action to help eliminate foreign-owned farmland. USDA unveiled the National Farm Security Action Plan this week, a strategy that is aimed at protecting and securing American farmland from foreign influence, as well as defending innovation.

The plan is the next pillar of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ Make Agriculture Great Again initiative. USDA calls it a “historic plan” that “elevates American agriculture as a key element of our nation’s national security, addressing urgent threats from foreign adversaries and strengthening the resilience of our nation’s food and agricultural systems.”

The Trump administration has been facing increased pressure to crack down on the amount of foreign-owned farmland in the U.S., especially surrounding U.S. military bases.

“We feed the world. We lead the world. And we’ll never let foreign adversaries control our land, our labs, or our livelihoods,” said Rollins. “This Action Plan puts America’s farmers, families, and future first — exactly where they belong. Under President Trump’s leadership, American agriculture will be strong, secure, and resilient. He will never stop fighting for our farmers and our ranchers.

“Too much American land is owned by nationals of adversarial countries, and more than 265,000 acres in the United States are owned by Chinese nationals, much of which is located near critical U.S. military bases ,” Rollins also told reporters Monday.

USDA's National Farm Security Action Plan, announced today under @SecRollins' Make Agriculture Great Again initiative, safeguards our food supply, strengthens infrastructure, & defends U.S. ag innovation from foreign adversaries.

🔗https://t.co/8wl5YfIzju pic.twitter.com/cqRv4PU6Th
— Dept. of Agriculture (@USDA) July 8, 2025

In what USDA calls “aggressive action,” the agency says it is addressing seven critical areas, which include:

Secure and protect American farmland — Address U.S. foreign farmland ownership from adversaries head on. Total transparency. Tougher penalties.
Enhance agricultural supply chain resilience — Refocus domestic investment into key manufacturing sectors and identify non-adversarial partners to work with when domestic production is not available. Plan for contingencies.
Protect U.S. nutrition safety net from fraud and foreign exploitation — Billions have been stolen by foreign crime rings. That ends now.
Defend agricultural research and innovation — No more sweetheart deals or secret pacts with hostile nations. American ideas stay in America.
Put America first in every USDA program — From farm loans to food safety, every program will reflect the America First agenda.
Safeguard plant and animal health — Crack down on bio-threats before they ever reach American soil.
Protect critical infrastructure — Farms, food and supply chains are national security assets — and will be treated as such.

Rollins wasn’t alone in unveiling the new plan. Along with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and several state governors, Rollins says the Trump administration is creating a united front to address foreign threats.

FARM SECURITY IS NATIONAL SECURITY: Today, the Trump Administration launched the National Farm Security Action plan to protect our farmland and food supply from foreign threats. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/hUwxknmGYK
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 8, 2025

“Getting an understanding of why foreign entities, companies and individuals buy up land around those bases. That’s something I should be paying attention to,” said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during the press conference this week.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins conducts a news conference to announce the National Farm Security Action Plan and “discuss actions being taken to protect American agriculture from foreign threats,” outside the USDA Whitten Building on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Attorney General Pam Bondi, left, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, also appear.

((Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Sipa USA))

USDA says it’s launching a new online portal for farmers, ranchers, and others to report possible false or failed reporting and compliance with respect to Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA).

“Further, the portal will receive and review claims of adversarial foreign influence on federal, state, and local policymakers with respect to purchases of U.S. farmland and business dealings in other facets of U.S. agricultural supply chains. Submissions may be accepted anonymously or contact information may be provided for appropriate follow up by USDA.”

As background, USDA explained AFIDA requires foreign investors who acquire, transfer, or hold an interest in U.S. agricultural land to report such holdings and transactions to the Secretary of Agriculture. USDA says In January 2024, the Government Accountability Office published a report on foreign investments in U.S. agricultural land, which provided recommendations for enhancing efforts to collect, track, and share key information to identify national security risks.

Increasing Biosecurity Threats

Rollins specifically mentioned increasing biosecurity threats from China.

As AgWeb reported in June , another Chinese national is accused of smuggling biological materials related to roundworms into the U.S. for work at a University of Michigan laboratory. According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Chengxuan Han is charged with smuggling goods into the U.S. and making false statements.

That followed two Chinese nationals charged with trying to smuggle a fungus , Fusarium graminearum, into the U.S. just a week prior.

USDA says those recent events highlight the critical need for this action.

“Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice charged foreign nationals, including a Chinese Communist Party member, with smuggling a noxious fungus into the United States — a potential agroterrorism weapon responsible for billions in global crop losses. The scheme involved a U.S. research lab and highlighted a disturbing trend: America’s enemies are playing the long game — infiltrating our research, buying up our farmland, stealing our technology, and launching cyberattacks on our food systems. These actions expose strategic vulnerabilities in America’s food and agriculture supply chain,” USDA said in a release.

Foreign-Owned Farmland By the Numbers

The foreign-owned farmland piece drew this biggest coverage out of USDA’s announcement this week . As AgWeb reported last year , when you look at the numbers, China doesn’t own the most farmland in the U.S.. According to a USDA report, it’s actually Canada, which accounts for 32%, or 14.2 million acres. But as USDA said on Tuesday, the concern is the amount of farmland owned by China is growing.

Foreign-Owned Land by County

(USDA)

Rounding out the top five are the Netherlands at 12%, Italy at 6%, the United Kingdom at 6% and Germany at 5%. Together, citizens in those countries hold 13 million acres, or 29%, of the foreign-held acres in the U.S. China owns less than 1%, or 349,442 acres.

All told, 43.4 million acres of forest and farmland in the U.S., or 3.4% of all ag land, is foreign owned as of Dec. 31, 2022. Roughly 30 million of those acres are reported as foreign owned, with the remainder primarily under a 10-year-or-longer lease. Of the 30 million, 66% is owner-operated, 14% has a tenant or sharecropper as the producer and 12% report a manager other than the owner or a tenant/sharecropper as producer. The remaining 7% are “NA.”

USDA says the two biggest Chinese-owned companies with land holdings in the U.S. are Brazos Highland and Murphy Brown LLC, which owns Smithfield Foods. Brazos Highland reported owning 102,345 acres, and Smithfield owns 97,975 acres.

The top five states with the largest Chinese holdings are:

Texas at 162,167 acres
North Carolina at 44,776 acres
Missouri at 43,071 acres
Utah at 32,447 acres
Virginia at 14,382 acres

USDA reports those five states combined account for 85% of China’s farmland ownership. In Texas, USDA reports China has long-term leases associated with wind energy, and in North Carolina and Missouri, ownership is tied to Smithfield and producers who contract for pork production.

Unintended Consequences?

Foreign-held farmland has become a hot-button topic on Capitol Hill, but some warn unintended consequences could impact agriculture, especially for those industries who have companies that are Chinese owned. Just take Smithfield as an example. If Smithfield is targeted, some fear that could create more consolidation in the hog industry.

“It’s an emotional issue, and it’s not a simple issue either,” Jim Wiesemeyer, a long-time Washington analyst, told AgWeb. “I was recently in Missouri, and some commodity leaders worry about the negative consequences of going too far. No one’s saying China should not be watched relative to buying farmland near airports, national security is involved in that case, but more than a few farmers are looking at the potential downsides for pork producers who contract with Smithfield and the number of acres they own.”

While there isn’t a single, comprehensive ban on China owning farmland across all states, many states have introduced or enacted laws restricting or prohibiting foreign ownership of agricultural land, with a focus on China. That includes Texas, Florida and several Midwestern states that have enacted laws restricting or banning purchases by specific countries, including China.

One of those unintended consequences played out in Arkansas when Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

In 2023, Arkansas became the first state to enforce a law banning certain foreign entities from owning agricultural land, specifically targeting those deemed “prohibited foreign parties.” This action was taken against a subsidiary of Syngenta Seeds , a Chinese-owned company, ordering them to divest their farmland.

“I’m announcing Syngenta, a Chinese state-owned agrichemical company, must give up its landing holdings in Arkansas,” said Sanders, referencing a 160-acre research site owned by Northrup King Seed, a Syngenta subsidiary.

Sanders was present as USDA rolled out the new plan this week.

“Arkansas led the nation in kicking Communist China off our farmland and out of our state because we understand that farm security is national security,” said Sanders. “I applaud President Trump and Secretary Rollins for putting America first with this bold USDA Action Plan to protect our food supply, our economy, and our freedom.”

It’s an issue that’s not going away. More states are considering addressing foreign-owned farmland with legislation, as well.

🇨🇳There’s a troubling correlation between Chinese-owned farmland in America and the location of our military bases.

🌾Assembly Bill 4781 by Asm. Alex Sauickie, Asw. Dawn Fantasia, and me would stop this in its tracks in New Jersey.

🚨With today’s announcement by the U.S.… pic.twitter.com/1CGA7K9Iwj
— Mike Inganamort (@MikeInganamort) July 8, 2025

States Applaud USDA’s Aggressive Plan

Governors and state agriculture secretaries were on hand for the announcement this week, applauding USDA’s plan.

“Tennesseans know that our farmland is our national security, our economic future, and our children’s heritage. The National Farm Security Action Plan puts America First by defending our farmland from foreign adversaries and protecting our food supply, and I thank the Trump Administration for its bold leadership,” said Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.

“Farm Security = Food Security = National Security. Thanks to these actions taken by President Trump and his team, we can further protect the backbone of Nebraska’s economy from foreign adversaries like China. Homeland security starts at home, and we will continue to do our part in Nebraska,” Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said in a news release.

“I am grateful for Secretary Brooke Rollins’ bold leadership in advancing USDA’s Ag Security Agenda, which prioritizes safeguarding American agriculture and farmland from those who seek to undermine our nation’s food and energy security. Iowa’s multi-generation family farms are the backbone of our state’s economy and way of life. For decades, Iowa has banned the foreign ownership of farmland, a law we strengthened in 2024, to preserve our agricultural integrity and security while balancing the need for foreign business investment in our state. I fully support Secretary Rollins’ and the Trump Administration’s efforts to bolster enforcement, increase reporting, and enhance transparency of land ownership laws at the national level to guarantee that our American farmland remains in the hands of Americans,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.

5 Options to Consider During Farmland Transitions

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 16:30:00 GMT

Transitions are hard. It doesn’t matter what the transition involves, the nature of moving from one thing to the next is complicated. Farmland may be one of the toughest, says Steve Bohr of Farm Financial Strategies in Lisbon, Iowa.

“Farmers often believe that what differentiates him or her is their ability to own the land,” Bohr explains. “And by God, you’re not taking it away from them. A lot of times, land ownership doesn’t transfer until death, and I’m OK with that. But we’ve got to drill down and figure out how that land is going to transition from one generation to the next.”

Over the years, he’s discovered there are three fundamental areas of concern in an estate and farm transition plan that each family should independently address — cost of administration, creditor protection, and transition plans for land and operating assets.

He shares five options to consider for the transition of land assets.

1. Give the land to the farmer.
The first option is to get the land transitioned to those who are farming it or have an affinity to own it, Bohr says. Each generation cannot afford to take a step back in equity and expect to compete in today’s marketplace.

“The clear problem with that is, how are we fair to the ones who aren’t interested in farming? Every family is different,” he says.

If your family is expecting to farm the same (or more) acres with a land base that has been divided across siblings, each generation will be in a weaker position to complete. How many times will your family have to pay for the same land? Which generation will eventually lose it due to no fault of their own (other than choosing to carry on the legacy)?

2. Divide the land equally.
An undivided ownership in real estate can cause great anxiety for the owners of the land who want to farm it or who want to continue to own it, he explains. There is a greater chance of peace if you divide the land, but also a greater chance it gets away from the family.

“Most people believe this is the answer,” Bohr says. “I don’t believe that, because the problem with dividing the land is that it’s a recipe for the land to get away from us. Whether it’s divorce, bankruptcy or poor planning.”

At some point in time, the more people involved, and the more independence those people have, the land’s going to get away from you. If it doesn’t, then it has to be divided again at the next generation. By the time you divide a farm two generations, the grandkids don’t have enough to be able to farm.

“We are dividing ourselves right out of the plat book,” Bohr says.

3. Deed land into a family trust.
Leaving the land in trust after death may be a wise option for families who cannot afford to get the land to one heir and who do not want to divide their land. There are solid reasons to leave the land in trust for management, including if one or more children have marital, money or addiction issues or if one or more children are independently wealthy.

Oftentimes, leaving land in trust gives a false sense of security that may be deferring the problem to the future.

“When we leave it in trust, we’re asking for big problems. Whenever that land comes out of trust, it can be very inflexible,” Bohr says.

4. Create a family land entity.
A land entity like a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or Family Limited Partnership (FLP) has become popular for a family where the first three options do not fit.

“I call this the boomerang plan because the rules in the operating agreement of the entity always bring the land back to the family,” he says.

Those entities will have rules, and within the entities, those rules will talk about lease options and purchase options at family pricing and terms, whatever that looks like. A vast majority of them are special use paid over a 30 -year contract so they can guarantee opportunity and affordability for family members.

5. Develop a hybrid plan.
There is not one plan that fits all families. That’s why a combination of multiple options sometimes works best for most families. A hybrid plan gives everybody an opportunity.

“Right now in succession planning, I think we have to give a huge amount of understanding to what will or won’t cash flow,” Bohr says. “What are the tax ramifications? What is the timing of the transition? And are we going to give an adequate opportunity to those who are going to be that next generation in our communities, paying taxes, going to churches, going to schools?”

Your Next Read: How an Iowa Family is Passing on the Farm from One Generation to the Next

Op-Ed: Secretary Rollins Announces Policy Proposals to Enhance Support for Family Farmers

Mon, 19 May 2025 15:11:36 GMT

Small family farms are the backbone of our nation. Throughout our history, they have secured the promise of liberty made by our Founders. And they are the indispensable foundation of democratic civics and republican virtues. As Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison in 1785, “small landholders are the most precious part of a state.”

Today, with my friend Governor Jim Pillen, we kicked off the Make Agriculture Great Again Initiative at Ohnoutka Family Farm in eastern Nebraska. This new policy initiative at USDA will address a series of issues within food, agriculture, and rural America but will specifically focus on challenges faced by small family farms.

We know these challenges, such as labor costs and availability, are not easy ones to address. But we are committed to focusing on the needs of Americans who operate small farms because of their patriotism and commitment to their land.

USDA Steps Up to Address Obstacles
During my time as Secretary of Agriculture, I’ve met with family farmers who have faced too many obstacles as they work to maintain or start new operations.

For example, many small farms lack reliable access to capital. At USDA, we are reforming the Farm Service Agency loan program to streamline delivery and increase program efficiency.

The acquisition of land for new farmers has also become increasingly difficult amid high costs and real estate development. That’s why we’re using prioritization points and regulatory action to disincentivize the use of federal funding for solar panels to be used on productive farmland. And we’re expanding permitting of unused or underused federal land for long-term leases to small farms and streamlining the federal land leasing process so the program works better for farmers and adjacent landowners.

We are also aware many new farmers lack access to infrastructure such as cold storage and processing facilities. To address this disparity, we are working to provide state-level grants for infrastructure tied to the needs of new farmers. And by the end of the year, we will ensure applications for every farmer-focused program are available for electronic submission.

And finally, we are working with governors and state legislators around the country to find solutions to the challenges small farms face. We recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture to find areas of collaboration between USDA and the states, which are the laboratories of democracy.

State and Federal Governments Must Work Together
Earlier this month, we hosted a roundtable at USDA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., with small-farm operators from around the country. We had the privilege of welcoming hog farmers from Ohio, third-generation local producers from Virginia, first-generation dairy farmers from Mississippi, Amish and Mennonite farmers from Pennsylvania, and many others who have devoted much of their lives to the land and their customers.

The Founders did not chart the path of our nation so USDA bureaucrats in Washington can look over the shoulders of law-abiding American citizens.

As I was reminded by the witness of those who visited USDA, the Department of Agriculture was founded so every farming mother and father can raise their children, work their land, and spend time with their families and their God.

This is the mission of USDA, and now, under the leadership of President Trump, is the time to return to the fundamental work that will restore rural prosperity in forgotten communities across the nation.

Based on feedback from the hundreds of small family farmers I have met and talked to over the last 90 days, USDA is now making tangible changes to our policies to ensure family farmers can continue to work their land and new farmers can take on this way of life without obstruction.

While USDA has many programs to assist farmers, we know it takes government entities, non-profits, and the private sector focusing their efforts together to improve the viability and longevity of small family farms.

We were honored to announce this new policy initiative in Nebraska today. The existence and work of small farms are too central to our nation’s history, cultural heritage, and food supply to allow them to slowly disappear from our landscape. To steer clear of a problem that every American wants to avoid, it is imperative that federal and state governments provide proactive intervention so these small operations can preserve their inheritance for generations to come.

Feral Swine Law Setback: What's at Stake for Ohio

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 14:25:21 GMT

Every year, feral swine cost Ohio $2.5 million in losses due to the spread of deadly animal diseases and damage to land and crops. Just as 44 other states have some type of ban on importation of feral swine, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed H.B. 503, known as the Feral Swine Bill , into law last December to curb the problem.

The law was to go into effect in late March, but a county judge recently granted an injunction putting it on hold.

“The court has disregarded the entire purpose of the law and has wildly expanded what it’s designed to do — which is to protect all pork producers from diseases carried by feral swine such as African swine fever,” says Cheryl Day, Ohio Pork Council executive vice president. “This is certainly not something we foresaw, but we are confident that it will be resolved swiftly to ensure the full protection of our state’s farmers and landowners who are at much higher risk otherwise.”

The judge in the case, brought by a feral swine hunting preserve owner, has urged the state of Ohio to seek a “legislative clarification” to the definition of feral swine, which is currently being pursued, the Ohio Pork Council said in a statement.

With unanimous bipartisan support in the General Assembly and numerous supporters, including the Ohio Farm Bureau, Ohio Dairy Producers Association, Ohio Cattleman’s Association, Ohio Soybean Association, Ohio Sheep Improvement Association, Ohio Poultry Association, Ohio Corn & Wheat Growers Association, and the Ohio Forestry Association, the law set out to protect the state from the harm wild pigs cause.

“It’s a bit disturbing that the court did not understand what’s at stake when we have over 3,500 family-based pig farms in Ohio that depend on keeping their animals safe from unnecessary health risks that could devastate them and our state economy,” Day says.

The Stakes are High
As a family pig farmer in Ohio, Nathan Schroeder, president of the Ohio Pork Council from Leipsic, Ohio, says it’s extremely disappointing that the court did not understand what’s at stake.

“Our nation’s poultry farmers have seen how devastating diseases like avian influenza can be and a foreign animal disease brought in by feral swine would be much worse for us, which is why this law must be allowed to go into effect,” Schroeder urges.

Ohio alone could lose an estimated 28,000 jobs and experience losses of up to $115 million per year if African swine fever, a deadly foreign animal disease that impacts both wild and domestic pigs, were brought in, experts say.

“We’ve all seen the devastation that diseases such as avian influenza can have, and we know foreign animal disease losses would be dramatically worse, which is another reason why this law must be reinstated,” Day points out.

Ohio Pork Council is not letting this one slide.

“We’ll be working hard to support the reinstatement of the law so that our industry gets the protection it deserves,” Day says.

Your Next Read: Pigs Don’t Fly: Feral Hog Spread Is A Man-Made Mess

What's Happening In The Land Market? Your Regional Breakdown

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 18:37:26 GMT

A new report from Farmers National Company (FNC) shows land values have remained relatively stable in the Midwest, with two types of buyers largely driving demand.

“There are many factors for buyer motivation, but much of it can be explained by mindset translating to demand,” said Paul Schadegg, senior vice president of real estate operations at Farmers National Company. “Farm operators continue to be the primary buyers of ag land. Their mindset or motivation revolves around reinvesting in their farm enterprise, expanding operations, and utilizing today’s farm equipment fully. Location of land offered for sale also plays a large role in their decision making, as often this land has not changed hands for generations and once sold, may not be sold again.”

FNC predicts farmers will remain the primary land buyer in 2025. The second largest buyer is investors, who Schadegg says are driven by a completely different motivation.

“There is virtually no emotional motivation, as buying decisions are based on return on investment or anticipated appreciation of land value,” Schadegg says. “Many land investors have not experienced the rise and fall of agriculture cycles but fully appreciate the long-term value of land. As pressures on the ag economy increase, investors stand ready to bid on land that fits their investment criteria.”

With farmland’s long-term appreciation and annual return on investment, there are currently more buyers than sellers out there. The company reports land listings are down across the industry, on average, 25% from the active and accelerating value market experienced between 2020-2023.

Regionally, this looks like:

Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky:
Sales have decreased in this area compared to the previous three years. Jay VanGorden, area sales manager for the east region, says land values have seen minimal price drops for highly tillable and quality soil-type farms in most areas, but farms with lower-quality soils, lower tillable percentages, and poorer drainage have dropped off more significantly.
Illinois and Wisconsin:
Land sale values have increased in some parts of this region. Nate Zimmer, area sales manager for the east-central region, says record-breaking sales aren’t as common as they were though, and no-sales are popping up more - a sign seller and buyer expectations are not in alignment. Zimmer adds the method of listing is shifting more toward private treaty as well.
Iowa and Southern Minnesota:
Average land values have dropped 5% to 10% in the past year in Iowa and southern Minnesota. Thomas Schutter, area sales manager for this region, says alternative sale methods have become more common here, particularly for lower-quality farms. While higher-quality farms are still predominantly sold through auctions, there has been an increase in the use of traditional listings and sealed bids for marketing farmland in some areas.
Kansas, Eastern Colorado, Western Missouri:
Values have fallen in some areas of the south-central region, such as in southwest Kansas due to water availability. But other areas are still fetching top dollar for high-quality cropland and recreation properties, according to area sales manager Steve Morgan.
Western Nebraska, Northwest Kansas, Northeastern Colorado:
Cole Nickerson, area sales manager for the western region, says neighborhood demand and land quality are the primary drivers in the western region. Land values have remained high in regions with strong cattle production, high-quality irrigated and productive dryland farms and quality grassland. He adds economic challenges in the corn and soybean markets have made farmland more difficult to sell in areas dominated by row crop production.
Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa:
Chanda Scheuring, area sales manager for the west-central region, has seen the buyer-pool in this area shrinking. She shares buyers, both local farmers and investors, are still interested in making farm purchases. However, they’ve become more selective with properties and the price they are willing to pay.
Dakotas and Western Minnesota:
The land market in the northern regions is best described as chaotic, according to area sales manager Troy Swee.

“Land values remain very strong in areas where not much land has sold, and the producers had an above-average crop in 2024,” Swee explains. “However, in areas with less investor interest and where several farms have already been sold, land values appear to be down 10% to 15%.”

Your Next Read: New Trends Are Emerging In The Farmland Market

Father-Son Camp Soars to 30 Years of Success on Illinois Farm

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 03:15:00 GMT

In 1994, three father-and-son pairs camped in a wooded area along the Embarrass River, near the open farmland of Illinois producer Chris Miller. Thirty years and thousands of kids later, Miller’s Father-Son Camp has soared into success, measured by the shaping of American youth.

Each year, hundreds of boys raised on concrete, along with their dads, arrive at Miller’s row crop and cattle operation for a life lesson in farming, fishing, firearms, livestock, woodworking, and biblical-based teaching.

“We try to put tools in the toolbox for these fathers to help the next generation,” Miller says. “We want them to raise boys with backbones of iron.”

Wheels in Motion

On black dirt in east-central Illinois’ Coles County, Miller began farming in 1977. Today, alongside his wife, Mary, Miller grows 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans, and raises roughly 100 pairs of Angus cattle. Beyond agriculture, Miller doubles as a state representative in the Illinois General Assembly, and Mary serves as a congresswoman in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In October 1995, Miller’s fifth (and first son) of seven children, Max, celebrated a third birthday. Miller asked young Max the big question: “What do you want to do on your birthday?”

“We have to stand up and push back so we don’t lose this generation,” says Miller. Photo courtesy of Leah Sweeney

(Photo courtesy of Leah Sweeney)

“Camping. I wanna go camping—no girls allowed.”

Bingo. Miller invited along two friends who also had 3-year-old sons.

“At the time, all I knew as a father was that kids did well in life when parents spent lots of time with them,” Miller recalls. “But beyond that, we just took them for a simple campout. What can you expect with three-year-olds?”

“It’s almost all average fathers that are raising kids in a non-farm or a city environment that have never shot a gun or been around farming,” Miller says. Photo courtesy of Leah Sweeney

(Photo courtesy of Leah Sweeney)

However, unbeknownst to Miller, the wheels were in motion.

“When our boys woke up Saturday morning, we saw something special because of the gleam in their eyes. That tiny overnight became an annual event and then it started to grow organically.”

Run Loose

On Max’s eighth birthday, Miller made a small step that turned into a giant leap: “We went to our local Birkey’s farm store, borrowed their 20-by-20 tent for teaching times, put straw bales around for seats, and decided to combine outdoor adventure and ministry. In the evening, we taught a basic biblical principal that if you don’t work, you don’t eat. And whatever you ate had to be caught or killed.”

“My hope is that Father Son Camp has a ripple effect that starts in Oakland, Illinois, and moves like a tsunami across the U.S. from north to south and east to west,” says Miller. Photo courtesy of Leah Sweeney

(Photo courtesy of Leah Sweeney)

“Those first several years, sometimes the dinners were a little gross when a young boy didn’t fully skin his squirrel,” Miller says with a grin. “The last time we did that, we had 120 campers and some campers complained that all they did that weekend was clean fish. For the last 10 years or so, we have enjoyed catered meals.”

Word of the camp’s impact quickly spread. Year over year, the gathering climbed to 36 fathers and sons—to 80—to 140. Then 200 to 300. And now, Father Son Camp consistently reaches 500 to 600. Over four days in October, the camp features meetings in early morning and evening, with activities packed in between, stretched from the Miller farm to nearby Walnut Point State Park and Hebron Hills.

Who are the attendees? “One year we had 17 states and one foreign country represented,” Miller describes. “It’s almost all average fathers that are raising kids in a non-farm or a city environment that have never shot a gun or been around farming. It’s like letting calves off a trailer after a long drive when the boys get here. They kick up their heels and run loose.”

Year over year, the numbers at Father Son Camp continue to climb.

(Photo courtesy of Leah Sweeney)

“It’s fathers trying to cast a vision of Christian manhood,” he adds. “Proverbs 29:18 tells us that where there’s no vision, people are unrestrained—and that’s a snapshot of modern society. Our culture is in chaos, and our youth are bombarded by images, cell phones, and mass media. We have to stand up and push back so we don’t lose this generation.”

Power of One

Father Son Camp is independent and funded entirely by donations, with expenses roughly $30,000-$35,000 per year. “It’s open to everyone, and everyone chips in as they can,” Miller says. “But everyone is welcome to come whether they donate or not. It’s about an emphasis on pointing the next generation to Christ while enjoying the open spaces, enjoying outdoor adventures, and the agricultural landscape of central Illinois.”

“We try to put tools in the toolbox for these fathers to help the next generation,” Miller says. “We want them to raise boys with backbones of iron.”

(Photo courtesy of Leah Sweeney)

From Navy Seals to athletes to authors to veterans to pastors, Miller provides inspirational speakers every year. In 2024, Joe Kennedy addressed the camp: “Joe stood up for his right to pray after football games and took his case to the Supreme Court—and won,” Miller notes. “He proved the power of one, and that’s a message we want these kids to take home.”

Miller believes in the role of farmland to mold character and propel sons to manhood. “My hope is that Father Son Camp has a ripple effect that starts in Oakland, Illinois, and moves like a tsunami across the U.S. from north to south and east to west. We want to introduce kids to Christ and the adventures that agriculture can provide for the next generation to give them hope and a vision.”

For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:

Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told

Cottonmouth Farmer: The Insane Tale of a Buck-Wild Scheme to Corner the Snake Venom Market

Bagging the Tomato King: The Insane Hunt for Agriculture’s Wildest Con Man

Ghost in the House: A Forgotten American Farming Tragedy

Priceless Pistol Found After Decades Lost in Farmhouse Attic

Bizarre Mystery of Mummified Coon Dog Solved After 40 Years

American Gothic: Farm Couple Nailed In Massive $9M Crop Insurance Fraud

Evil Grain: The Wild Tale of History’s Biggest Crop Insurance Scam

Fleecing the Farm: How a Fake Crop Fueled a Bizarre $25 Million Ag Scam

The Arrowhead Whisperer: Stunning Indian Artifact Collection Found on Farmland

Skeleton In the Walls: Mysterious Arkansas Farmhouse Hides Civil War History

Oh, Deer — What A Day on the Farm!

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 19:28:00 GMT

Deer are both majestic and maddening. They make for an exciting pursuit during hunting season, but they also wreak havoc on vehicles, tires and fields.

With approximately 36 million deer in the U.S., those who call rural America home know deer-vehicle collisions are common, especially in October, November and December. Based on this November 2022 study , around 2.1 million deer-vehicle collisions occur annually, causing more than $10 billion in economic losses.

According to State Farm annual analysis , the top 10 states for animal collision, of which deer are the leading cause, are:

West Virginia
Montana
Michigan
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin
Mississippi
Iowa
South Dakota
Virginia
Rhode Island

A Farm Journal reader shared this run-in with a buck.

Deer – semi collision

(Farm Journal)

The Buck Stops Here
In addition to vehicle damage, unsuspecting tractor tires are often no match for deer sheds hiding in fields. Can you relate to these photos shared by fellow farmers?

Deer shed in tire

(Farm Journal)

Deer shed in tire

(Farm Journal)

Deer sheds in tires

(Farm Journal)

If you’ve had one of those horrible, no good, very bad days, or captured someone else’s, share it with Farm Journal. Whether you picked up a deer shed or sunk a piece of machinery in a mudhole, email images to whataday@farmjournal.com.

Shoo Deer — Not In My Field

Deer are a real pest when they graze, trample and bed down in crop fields. Depending on your crop’s stage, this can have economic consequences.

“Deer will feed on immature corn tassel tissue in the whorl during mid- to late-June and also on developing ears in early- to mid-August at the milk stage,” says Bob Nieslen, a retired Purdue University Extension corn specialist. “The decapitated plants usually survive, and ear development will continue through pollination and on to maturity, though the ears are usually less than full size.”

Thieves In Search of Antler Treasure
Awaiting the annual guarantee of antler drop in late winter or early spring, thieves hop private property lines to steal from those who manage. Lust or greed, the lure of shed treasure is a powerful pull to the public, despite purple paint, posted signs and fences.

Whitetail legend Steve Snow is on alert for shed poachers. Like a hot-nose coonhound, he zigzags through timber looking for fresh boot prints — the telltale sign someone is up to no good.

Snow is in hot pursuit of stolen sheds — a dose of frontier justice.

READ: Monster Deer Madness: Iowa Farmer Nabs Antler Thieves, Busts Multistate Shed Ring

Monster Buck Finds Its Way Back Home
Speaking of thieves, when 14-year-old Dave Richmond’s monster buck was stolen , he never gave up hope finding the spectacular rack. Following 14 years of cold-nosing dead-end trails, Richmond was stunned to receive an anonymous message: “I know where your deer is.”

Dumbfounded, Richmond was unable to accept the claim: “Impossible. Just no way. I figured it had to be someone pranking me.”

Two days later, he received a second message, along with an unmistakable photo.

“The picture told it all,” Richmond says. “I was looking at my deer.”

Welcome to a tale of deceit trumped by the enduring faith of a 14-year-old.

Dave Richmond recovers stolen deer antlers

(Photo by Whitetail Obsession Outdoors)

READ: Monster Buck Antlers Stolen from Teen Deer Hunter Recovered After 14 Years

Pigs Don't Fly: Feral Hog Spread Is A Man-Made Mess

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 21:10:39 GMT

Hidden inside covered trailers or hauled in plain sight under the cover of darkness, wild pigs are on the move. Even trussed in car trunks, stuffed in dog boxes, stretched across back seats, or openly sold on Facebook, wild pigs often march to a man-made beat. Bottom line: The spread of 6.3 million wild pigs across the United States is assisted by rubber tires.

Illegal transport is a major cause of increased wild pig presence, an advance which contributes to an annual multi-billion dollar bill. Wild pigs cause up to $2.5 billion in damage to the U.S. economy each year and $1 billion of the total is exclusive to agriculture. Based on anecdotes and observation, wildlife personnel have long suspected illegal transport as a major catalyst of wild pig dispersal. Through advances in genetic technology, intuition is being confirmed with hard evidence: The most reproductively capable large animal in North America is hitching a human ride.

Wild pig expansion over the past 30 years has jumped from 19 states in 1985 to 39 states in 2016. Consistently on the cusp of a population explosion, sows typically deliver two litters in approximately 15 months. (However, sows are physiologically capable of producing two litters per year.) Females are able to reproduce as early as four months, fueling the multiplier effect.

Prolific breeding (combined with exceptional intelligence and phenomenal adaptability) requires the annual culling of 50 percent to 75 percent of a pig population to keep numbers in check, a control rate that’s often impossible to achieve. Jack Mayer, manager of the Environmental Sciences and Biotechnology Group at the Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken, S.C., places the approximate U.S. wild pig population at 6.3 million, with an overall estimate ranging between 4.4 million to 11.3 million.

Prolific breeding requires the annual culling of 50 percent to 75 percent of a pig population to keep population numbers in check, a control rate that’s often impossible to achieve.

© IDNR Outdoor Indiana

Hogs or Big Bucks?

Wild pigs have a historical presence in the South, but consistently began popping up on Midwest wildlife radars in the early 1990s due to illegal transport. Steve Backs, a wildlife biologist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), says the Midwest wild pig population is attributable to intentional sport releases and pen escapes.

Indiana’s current wild pig presence is limited to several counties, a population Backs attributes to a single probable source. According to Backs, in the mid-1990s, a resident of Louisiana used wild pigs as a cover to poach Indiana deer: “This guy would haul in wild hogs and release them. He’d hunt deer in the same location at night and when approached, he’d claim he was hunting hogs.”

“The rumor was he was killing Midwest deer and entering them in big buck contests in the South. We couldn’t catch him releasing the hogs, but we knew what was going on.”

Backs believes the suspect released over 60 wild pigs, a number easily capable of sparking a population explosion. “There were others doing the same thing and there was no coordinated effort, but the initial surge of hogs was likely due to his efforts,” Backs recalls.

Steve Backs inspects wild pig depredation in corn. Wild pigs cause up to $2.5 billion in damage to the U.S. economy each year and $1 billion of the total is exclusive to agriculture.

© IDNR Outdoor Indiana

Indiana authorities were eventually able to make a deer poaching-related arrest. “I knew who the SOB was for a decade. He was literally releasing hogs where I personally hunt. Circumstantial evidence shows he also was killing big deer and taking hogs into other Midwest states. There were Illinois counties with big deer that all of a sudden had wild hogs.”

Backs is chairman of the Feral Swine Committee for the Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (MAFWA), which includes representation from nine U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, and operates as an information exchange. In addition, Backs serves on the National Wild Pig Task Force, which is composed of representatives from state level organizations, universities and government agencies.

Backs describes wild pigs as “God’s perfect survival animals,” but says the hunting allure is ultimately a devil’s bargain. Wild pig presence translates to habitat loss for other animals, including deer: “We’re talking about cockroaches on hooves. We want to educate the public and remove the hunting incentive. When hogs show up, deer leave.”

Backs admits some Indiana landowners continue to foster wild pig populations for hunting purposes. Under Indiana livestock laws, a landowner is responsible for livestock damage to a neighbor’s crops, according to Backs. “It’s probably just a matter of time before an impacted farmer takes a neighbor, who continues to harbor wild pigs on their land, to court. If you want wild pigs on your property and don’t want to cooperate with removal, you may wind up before a judge in a civil suit.”

Wild Pig Detective

Hot on the trail of wild pig movement, Bronson Strickland is cooperating with scientists using genetic testing to prove that adjacent populations are often unrelated. Strickland, a wildlife biologist and wildlife management specialist with Mississippi State University Extension , says illegal releases occur under the radar, but technology is revealing the physical proof of unrelated sounders stretching from Florida to California.

Still in the rudimentary stages of testing, genetic technology is documenting the unnatural spread of pigs, according to Strickland: “We’re beginning to see concrete proof of what we’ve believed for a long time. Populations don’t just spring up overnight in Midwest states like Illinois or Ohio.”

Wildlife biologist Bronson Strickland, left, and graduate student Clay Gibson with six wild pigs gps-collared for field research.

© Mississippi State University Extension

Natural colonization of wild pigs is a slow spread that resembles rose petal layering as adjacent populations overlap. “Scientifically, when a group of pigs has unique genetics, it tells me they shouldn’t be in that location unless illegal transport is involved,” he says.

Strickland has watched the wild pig population explode in Mississippi. In the 1980s, roughly 5% of Mississippi’s land area had wild pigs. As of 2017, at least 50% of Mississippi land has wild pigs with a sustained wild pig presence translating to a total population of over 200,000.

Outlaws

Who are the people physically trapping, transporting and releasing the pigs? Strickland points to a small group of outlaw hunters: “I’m not lumping anybody in because it’s a very small group engaging in illegal releases. These people want pigs in every county like we have deer in every county. It’s totally destructive.”

Yet, a few outlaws can ramp up an entire population of wild pigs. “They sneak pigs into a new area and those pigs quickly out-compete many of the native wildlife species we cherish,” he adds.

A few outlaws can ramp up an entire population of wild pigs. “They sneak pigs into a new area and those pigs quickly out-compete many of the native wildlife species we cherish,” Strickland says.

© IDNR Outdoor Indiana

With no obvious signature, the outlaws typically move at night or use covered trailers. “Everyone should take this very seriously. If you see hogs on your property or trail camera, take action or risk an unmanageable situation. If you see anything suspicious regarding transport, call the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) so they can investigate,” Strickland advises.

Facebook Smugglers

On March 29, 2017, MDWFP agents raided a location in Walthall County related to wild pig activity. A ring of four individuals was trapping wild pigs in Louisiana, transporting them to a holding pen in Mississippi, and brazenly selling them on Facebook, according to Major Lane Ball, south region administrator at MDWFP. With online convenience, buyers made contact and arrived with trailers to illegally transport wild pigs beyond Walthall County. It was an unusual incident involving social media and illegal transport, but it offered a clear window into the pace and underground nature of wild pig dispersal. (There have been other significant wild pig transport arrests in Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee.)

“We were able to stop these people, but we can’t tell how long they had been operating and how many other similar operations are out there,” Ball explains. “We aggressively pursuit illegal transport because these hogs are an unreal problem and there is no easy answer. Other than us, they have no predators and have free reign.”

Hog-dog hunting is tremendously popular in the South and fuels the illegal behavior of a tiny minority, Ball stresses: “The vast majority of hunters do it right and are great people. The simple fact is there are always some bad apples to spoil the whole bunch.”

Nationwide, more states are employing genetic profiles to monitor wild pig outbreaks. IDNR uses a genetic database to store wild pig DNA. As Backs and his team of wildlife specialists get farther down the wild pig removal trail, they’ll be able to detect whether new sounders originate in Indiana or out of state. In some cases, they may be able to trace new arrivals to a specific point of origin.

Precision wild pig damage to a soybean field. Wild pig expansion over the past 30 years has jumped from 19 states in 1985 to 39 states in 2016.

© Mississippi State University Extension

Again, 6.3 million wild pigs and possibly $2.5 billion in damage ($1 billion directly to agriculture) attest to the dire consequences of illegal wild pig transport. “Pigs don’t fly and we know how they’re getting here. We don’t have a hog hunting tradition yet and we don’t want one,” Backs adds. “Our Midwest pig problems are relatively small and we want to keep them that way.”

How Do Wind, Solar, Renewable Energy Effect Land Values?

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 18:31:51 GMT

Since the signing of the Paris Agreement and its Net Zero by 2050 iniative, the ripple effects are still being ironed out as the demand for renewable energy increases.

With expanding renewable energy installations such as wind and solar, The Top Producer Podcast host Paul Neiffer asked David Muth of Peoples Company Capital Markets , the Investment platform for Peoples Company, how those land uses change long term land values.

“We’re really seeing emerging revenue streams from our land base–outside of the ag production,” he says. “We’re trying to get our arms wrapped around the asset management strategy and really get this well positioned. So over the next 10 or 20 years, we’re expanding revenue right and capturing that correctly.”

Muth shares the estimate that over $1 trillion dollars a year is being invested globally in the low-carbon energy transition.

“If we step back and look at what that means for farmland, we’re taking our energy production system from highly centralized production facilities and we have to distribute it,” he says.

The team at Peoples Company used the Princeton Net Zero America study as the basis scenario for its work, which shows if there are 6,000 wind turbines in Iowa today, it needs to increase to about 48,000, which could bring almost $1 billion a year in additional revenue back to the landowners from the turbines.

Muth highlights the considerations for landowners with solar power are different than wind.

“With solar, it’s different. There’s certainly a free market element to this where the revenue streams and the value equations associated with the land in different areas will drive just how high they’ll push those numbers,” he says.

Solar’s Impact On Rural Property Values

He notes he’s seen annual leases with standard escalators for $1,100, and there are additional state and federal incentives.

“In Illinois, there’s been a big push, and we’ve seen options for solar development contracts on some of the best of the best farm ground for $1,400. It is what they’re talking about as a starting place on these assets. The core question is because it’s a fundamental shift in land use, how do you look at the underlying land value where you put solar in place?”

Thinking of recent trends, he says Illinois farm land has appreciated 7% a year, but the future appreciation rate is unknown just as the productivity of the land after solar panels are removed is unknown.

“It’s part of this sort of chaos that landowners are having sort through,” he says. “That’s where a pretty detailed discounted cash flow and understanding how much am I really making on that $1,400 an acre lease payment with a 2% escalator if the underlying farmland value doesn’t appreciate the way that the rest of that highly productive Illinois farm ground is going to appreciate.”

Pop-Up Solar: Can Farmers Make Fertilizer, Fuel and Electricity from the Sun?

Muth says the biofuels industry growth will also effect land values as the production of corn and soybeans is needed for Sustainable Aviation Fuel and renewable diesel.
He discusses more about wind, solar, biofuels as well as carbon storage opportunities on The Top Producer Podcast.

Changes To Expect In The Farmland Market This Fall

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 12:43:27 GMT

The U.S. farmland market is changing, according to Jim Rothermich of Iowa Appraisal. He recently joined the Top Producer podcast to share the ways he’s seeing the transition occur.

“Auctioneers are struggling to get some of it sold,” Rothermich says. “We had 27 no sales [in Iowa] in the first six months of this year. That’s a lot.”

After multiple years of a red-hot land market, the high number of no sales is a new trend to watch.

“Auctioneers are saying the last bid has been 10% to 20% below the reserve,” he says. “If I was to put the last bid of no-sale auctions in my data, I would say the market would be closer to 4% or 5% down from a year ago.”

Rothermich adds the market is down about 6% from its peak in 2022, which he sees as relatively healthy in comparison to current commodity prices. But that downward trend is still troubling some auctioneers.

“Just from visiting with the auctioneers, I know they’re concerned right now,” he says. “They think they’re going to have a fairly active fall selling season, but they’re worried people are going to start pulling back. And I see that happening, going forward.”

Despite the softening overall, he believes high-quality farm ground will still sell for a premium.

“Buyers will still pay up for good ground,” Rothermich says. “I analyzed the top 25 sales from the first six months of last year and this year, and there was essentially no difference. It was maybe less than 1% different.”

Rothermich is still anticipating an active auction season this fall and encourages potential buyers to do their research and stay informed.

“Market conditions are changing. They’re trending down, and there’s going to be some opportunities out there,” he says.

Click here to hear more episodes of the Top Producer podcast .

Your Next Read: Farmland Values in Iowa Fall for the First Time in 5 Years

There Are New, Early Signs of Ag Sector Financial Pressure

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:16:15 GMT

Agricultural credit conditions in the Tenth Federal Reserve District tightened in the second quarter of 2024 due to declining farm income, lower crop prices, and high production costs. Farm incomes continued to weaken, particularly in crop-heavy states like Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, while cattle prices provided some support. Farm borrower liquidity declined, and loan demand increased sharply, but repayment rates fell, indicating growing financial pressure on farmers.

Farm income was lower in all states, but the retraction remained especially pronounced in areas more impacted by low crop prices. The index of farm income was lower in Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, where crops make up a larger share of farm revenues (Chart 2). After strengthening last quarter, farm income in the Mountain States and Oklahoma declined in the second quarter as 30% of lenders in those states reported lower farm income than a year ago.

Farm income by state

(Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City)

Despite these challenges, agricultural credit stress remained limited, though signs of financial strain are emerging. Interest rates on farm loans stayed relatively high, and farmland values grew more slowly, with ranchland values showing relative strength. Lenders expect land values to stabilize, with some anticipating further declines in cropland values and increases in ranchland values. Overall, the agricultural sector is experiencing modest financial deterioration amid ongoing economic pressures.

Banker Comments Q2 2024

“Beef producers have experienced good margins over the last 12-18 months, but increasing replacement costs and interest costs will reduce margins moving forward.”– Kansas

“Lower grain prices and continued drought are causing stress.”– Kansas

“Inflation has increased family living expenses for our producers. Lower crop prices compared to a year ago is also worrisome to farmers in the area but continued high livestock prices have helped our cattle producers.”– Kansas

“Inflation is having a substantial effect on family living. Equipment upgrades and new purchases are a rare conversation with stressed cash flows.”– Missouri

“We expect profit margins to be reduced in the row crop sector while we should see significant improvement in profit margins in the cattle sector.”– Missouri

“The cattle market has provided much needed profit for cattle producers, but expansion and replacements have a lot of risk for borrower and lenders if a correction is to take place in the near future.”– Missouri

“We are seeing quite a few of our farm lines of credit approaching their max already, which would be a few months earlier than normal.”– Nebraska

“Inflation is keeping household spending higher, liquidity took a hit and we have seen some refinancing needed against land, but land prices are still high even with higher interest rates.”– Nebraska

“Interest rates and commodity prices and primary concerns in our area.”– Nebraska

“If cattle prices maintain, cattle producers will be okay until stockers are purchased, but if cattle prices deteriorate, it could be ugly. Crop farmers with low prices are hurting and yields were all over the spectrum.” – Oklahoma

“Cost of living is increasing significantly, and equipment and parts cost are increasing significantly.” - Oklahoma

“Higher rates are straining farmers cash flow and ability to operate with increasing input costs.” - Oklahoma

Land Values Have The Resilience Of a Dandelion

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 13:09:10 GMT

Though the ag economy is facing headwinds in interest rates, inflation and commodity prices, all classes of land across the country have gained in value, according to Farmers National Company’s July report .

“Despite these negative pressures, the land market has remained relatively resilient but is showing signs of settling in general, including single-digit decreases in specific areas,” says Paul Schadegg, senior vice president of real estate operations at Farmers National Company.

The decreases Schadegg references can be found in the eastern part of the country - in states such as Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan. The overall stability of the market, however, is something Steve Bruere, president of Peoples Company, chalks up to simple supply and demand.

“Commodity prices are softer and interest rates are higher, yet the farmland markets have been incredibly resilient. That’s because there’s still more capital out there that wants to own farmland than there is supply available,” Bruere says. “I talk to folks who say they want to buy farmland, but they want the market to cool off a little bit. I don’t know if the market will cool off to the degree they think that it should because there’s just not going to be supply.”

Correlation Between Farmland and Inflation
Another factor that might keep the land market from significantly settling is inflation, which, based on data from Peoples Company , is shown to be very strongly correlated with farmland values.

This chart from Peoples Company combines data from USDA, BLS and TIAA Center for Farmland Research to show the connection between farmland values and inflation

(Peoples Company)

“There’s a strong belief that we’re at the beginning stage, because of the fiscal policy in this country, where inflation is going to last quite a while and is going to get much more severe,” Bruere says. “If you believe that and that’s the camp you’re in, then you probably want to own farmland versus being in a fixed income like a T-bill.”

But this doesn’t necessarily mean owners who are considering selling should wait for this environment to occur to get a higher price at auction.

“If you’re considering selling, and you’re saying ‘OK, next year, the farmland market is going to be more vibrant than it is today, so I’m going to wait two or three years’, I think it’s going to take a little while for this interest rate and inflation environment to sort itself out,” Bruere says.

What To Watch
The timelines for inflation, interest rates and global conflict create a lot of unknowns in the market. As always, location and type of land plays an important role in overall land values.

“We anticipate variations in land value changes across our regions in the U.S.,” Schadegg says. “Areas with strong supply/demand scenarios, an expansion of alternative land use projects and irrigation water concerns might experience more dramatic increases or decreases in values.”

This sentiment is echoed by Bruere, who says he’s never been more bullish about land.

“There’s some uncertainty around where farmland is going. But if you have a long-term timeline, there’s just never been a period where you buy a piece of farmland that it’s not going to be worth more at 10 years than the day you bought it.”

How To Align Environmental Metrics With Your Asset Management In Farmland

Mon, 20 May 2024 16:40:18 GMT

There’s no fast-forward button in farming to see how your investments pay off. But a recent time lapse playback by Iowa farmer Reid Weiland visually told the year-by-year story of how investing in a field yielded environmental and financial rewards.

“Things happen slow,” he says. “It’s the nature of farming one year to the next, and so it can take a decade for our story to develop.”

In the example above and video below, Weiland and his team identified low yielding areas and addressed fertility; they rebuilt and completed the main waterway in the field and added a second where needed; and they cleared an old building site. Piece by piece, season by season, their investments came to fruition.

Weiland Farms grows millet, corn and non-GMO, food-grade soybeans. Reid Weiland is managing partner/CEO and has been for the past 10 years since his father semi-retired.

The Case To Develop A Field Pedigree

With his leadership, Weiland and the team have developed an approach to manage their farmland (owned and leased) for environmental, productivity, and long-term financial payback. He says the need for this approach escalates as farm land has increased in market value.

“Think about where we’re spending $10,000 to $15,000 an acre today, and you don’t typically know what the fertility is,” he says. “You don’t know what the production history of it is. You don’t know any conservation or regenerative pieces that have gone through it. And we’re spending a million bucks for a tract, and we know very little about it.”

This highlights the opportunity of investing in regenerative practices that build up the land’s quality and performance but also emphasizes the risk of not doing so.

“Imagine because of macro economics, farmland doubled. It’s $30,000 an acre. Well, now we’re spending $2 million. How much more valuable is it to have what I would call a pedigree — a production pedigree, a regenerative pedigree?”

Weiland says such a land pedigree would have 10 years of cropping history with documentation of inputs applied by date and quantity.

“That could easily be worth $1,000 an acre for a $30,000 an acre farm, right?” he says.

Boost Land Value and Stewardship
Weiland Farms has made it a mindset to consider how they are investing back in their land with a two-prong goal: minimize environmental impact while boosting its value. Here are four goals the Iowa farm is focused on: Prevent soil erosion: methods include transitioning to minimal-till or no-till in highly erodible areas as well as installing grassed areas. Manage water quality: for example, explore opportunities for incentive funding to install filter systems that remove nitrates from water. Improve waterways: neglected waterways don’t do their intended job and can cause larger erosion issues. Invest in sustainable farming methods: think about how soil health improves long-term productivity.

Boost Land Value and Stewardship

Weiland Farms has made it a mindset to consider how they are investing back in their land with a two-prong goal: minimize environmental impact while boosting its value.

Here are four goals the Iowa farm is focused on:

Prevent soil erosion: methods include transitioning to minimal-till or no-till in highly erodible areas as well as installing grassed areas.
Manage water quality: for example, explore opportunities for incentive funding to install filter systems that remove nitrates from water.
Improve waterways: neglected waterways don’t do their intended job and can cause larger erosion issues.
Invest in sustainable farming methods: think about how soil health improves long-term productivity.

What Makes Farmland Different

From an investment management standpoint, Weiland says agriculture has fallen into a decades-long malaise with a culture that doesn’t encourage regularly informed management. Said another way, farmland is a unique asset because it doesn’t depreciate or require hands-on management from the owner if an operator is in place.

“If you were to correlate a farmland investment to an investment in an apartment building, they are similar but very different. An apartment building needs to be managed almost daily, the roof may need to be replaced, etc.,” he says. “Just like an apartment building, farmland is a solid asset base that you’re generating a return on. But you may have a landowner who hasn’t talked to a tenant in a couple of years. Who owns something worth a million dollars and doesn’t receive a regular report on it from the person managing it? It sounds ridiculous but some landowners can get lulled into complacency without realizing it.”

Physical Investments

Weiland says the approach is a combination of agronomic practices and physical improvements. A current tool they are using is controlled drainage structures.

“It’s estimated that 20% to 50% of water leaving the farm is leaving the farm unnecessarily; that means we are shipping 20% to 50% more water down the Mississippi River than we really need to,” he says. “In addition, these systems help us get in the field and plant when we need to. So, we are holding water, which we know contains nitrates, when we can and still are able to manage the soil moisture for field work.”

Weiland Farms’ first controlled drainage structure was installed this past year, and there are more installations in the works.

“It’ll take us multiple years to learn about this management tool and how it pays back, but we see the benefits already,” he says.

With multiple metrics, progress is tracked as it’s realized.

—Kristin Leigh Lore, Manager of Climate-Smart Content, Trust In Food, contributed reporting to this story.

Climate and Tech Expected to Affect Ag Most This Year

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 19:43:28 GMT

Farm Journal’s Smart Farming Week is an annual week-long emphasis on innovation in agriculture. The goal is to encourage you to explore and prioritize the technology, tools and practices that will help you farm smarter. Innovation today ensures an efficient, productive and sustainable tomorrow.

Every year before the ball drops in Times Square, it seems everyone wants to pull out a crystal ball and prophesize what the new year will bring. And the ag industry loves a good prophet.

Before 2023 became history, Forbes Magazine took its shot at predicting agriculture’s highlights for 2024. So before Father Time turns the predictions stale, I thought it might be insightful, or at least entertaining, to provide some color commentary on the article, which focused on the following five areas where change in agriculture could be the greatest.

1. Farmland Holds the Key to Carbon Management
No different from last year or the prior year, agriculture has a bull’s-eye on its back when it comes to carbon intensity. According to the USDA Economic Research Service, U.S. agricultural operations are responsible for 10.6% of the nation’s overall greenhouse gas emissions. Climate scientists and Al Gore have told us this for years now. Expect the barrage of white papers and warnings to continue in 2024.

The good news, according to the pundits, is it will become increasingly clear this year that farmland is the key to carbon management. By default, nature has been seen as the most scalable way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. What is becoming more obvious to those outside the sphere of agriculture is that farmland is the best place to store it.

Look to see more announcements at the consumer packaged goods level regarding programs and collaboration across industries and sectors to foster regenerative practices at the production level. Companies such as Walmart, PepsiCo and General Mills are seeking programs able to scale such practices across millions of acres.

2. Alternative Proteins Will Recover From Their Sophomore Slump
Last year, the stock market and the population’s tastes soured on meatless burgers and chickpea chicken nuggets. Beyond Meat’s market cap plummeted from an all-time high of $14.2 billion to just more than $500 million at the turn of this year.

But don’t count out the alternative protein industry yet. Those quoted in the Forbes article anticipate 2024 to be a renaissance year for animal-based product substitutes.

The reason for such renewed hope is a tactical marketing change adopted by the second wave of alternative protein startups. Instead of taking full-blown consumer-ready products direct to the grocery store shelf and the fast food drive-through lane, they are focusing on selling alternative protein products as ingredients.

For example, the Every Company is touting that “the world’s first liquid egg made without the hen” could replace real eggs in thousands of processed food items. Rue the day these eggs find their way into my favorite lemon meringue pie.

3. Forget Counting Calories. Count Carbon
A new diet seems to be on the table every new year. This year, paring down the amount of carbon in your life may be as important as limiting your calories. Just like requirements for disclosing calories through food labels, the social, political and regulatory environment is forcing food companies to be fully transparent about their carbon footprints.

Instead of carbon credits, experts say carbon insets are needed to move the climate needle. With recently passed climate disclosure legislation, such as California’s SB 253, expect more food companies looking to measure, report and reduce their carbon emissions.

This switch will put pressure on producers as food companies off-load the burden of carbon reduction on them. Look for additional emphasis on cutting methane emissions from livestock through innovative feeds and carbon-capture techniques and improving soil health through biotech innovation, data and artificial intelligence.

4. Technology Will Make Ag More Hip and Exciting
Agriculture has long been characterized in literature, and even nursery rhymes, as boring and depressing—think Grapes of Wrath and Old MacDonald Had a Farm. Well, technology is continuing to turn this industry on its head.

Specialty crop operations’ use of automation will grow quickly as ag labor shortages persist. Meanwhile, the food prep industry is transforming as food- and medicine-focused companies take root. Think HelloFresh and Blue Apron meet your medical dietician. Companies such as ModifyHealth are tailoring chef-inspired medical meals to support consumers’ specific health needs, and companies such as Farmer’s Fridge allow you to select a green goddess salad or Thai noodle bowl instead of a Snickers bar from a vending machine.

5. Capital Investment in Ag Will Be Even More Deliberate and Disciplined
Once viewed as the hot new space for disruption, the ag tech sector is now weeding out the venture capital investors who entered it with hopes of quick wins. That culling really started in earnest two years ago and is predicted to continue this year.

But all is not gloom and doom in the ag startup arena. Investors see the market stabilizing and valuations returning to more realistic levels. Quality companies that are scaling, have good economic fundamentals and growing customer demand will likely find the capital they are seeking in 2024, but expect no more free lunches.

So there you have it. This recaps the Forbes take on agriculture in the new year: climate, carbon, technology, money and a world with eggs but no chickens.

If you think that’s weird, then just wait. The year has only begun. In agriculture, nearly anything can happen. Just wait a day.

Farmland Values Are Holding Up, But There Are Hints of a Reset At a New Level

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 23:48:17 GMT

Eye-popping land sales continue to take the farmland market by storm. From the $34,800 per acre land sale in Missouri that smashed records last fall, to farmland in Sioux County, Iowa, selling for more than $22,000 per acre to start the year, it’s proof the strength in the farmland market hasn’t fizzled out yet.

“The key point, without a doubt, is resiliency,” says Paul Schadegg, senior vice president of Real Estate at Farmers National Company (FNC).

A new report from the company shows even with declining commodity prices and elevated interest rates, land values are higher than expected.

“We really haven’t seen any decreases to speak of, and there are still some really strong sales out there in the country,” Schadegg says.

“It is just remarkable how stable these market conditions have been,” says Jim Rothermich, vice president of agricultural appraisals for Iowa Appraisal. “Based on my auction data, farmland values are down 1% from 2022 to 2023, and I think it’s amazing we’re seeing it hold up that well.”

Farmers in the Driver’s Seat
The farmland market in Iowa remains the strongest, but both Rothermich and Schadegg say there are other states with impressive sales.

“Illinois and Indiana have picked up a little steam — a lot of the sales are in the $20,000-plus range,” Schadegg says.

While resilient farmland prices were the theme in 2023, Rothermich recently uncovered one change in the market.

“One thing I have noticed is the number of price reductions on the listings of these companies. I haven’t seen that before,” Rothermich says. “It’s a sign the market is being affected by high interest rates.”

He’s also seen an uptick in no sales in auction, yet farmers are still in the driver’s seat in most farmland sales.

“Over the past several years, when this land market really took off, the primary pool of buyers have been operating farmers, and they continue to be the most successful buyer of land,” Schadegg says.

(Farm Journal)

A Potential Reset
Now the question is: Just how much of a correction could the farmland market see in 2024?

“If we look at the past 25 years, we’ve seen some run-up in land values, and then it resets at a new normal,” Schadegg says. “I think over the next 12 to 24 months, we’re probably going to see land values reset at a new level.”

“The last time we had a run-up was in 2013/14 when values went down 20% to 25%. It just doesn’t seem like it’s going to do that this time,” Rothermich says, who instead thinks the farmland market could be setting up for a correction in the single digits.

Mike Walsten of Pro Farmer’s LandOwner newsletter says the best-case scenario for 2024 is for prices to hold steady for better-quality ground.

“The more likely case, in my opinion, is a 5% decrease,” Walsten says. “I look for continued weakness going into 2025 to 2027, if things do not change radically. Values could correct 10% to 15% eventually. If energy prices go crazy again, a 20% decline is likely, but I don’t see prices correcting any more than that because I don’t see a rush of panic farm sales hitting the market and overwhelming demand.”

Walsten says farmers, in general, have manageable leverage in their recent purchases, and lenders aren’t willing to let farmers get overleveraged on land buys, which will constrain the number of farms that are moving to the market and help keep supply and demand in balance.

2024 Ag Economy: What's Causing Rural Bankers To Be Pessimistic

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 17:01:36 GMT

Creighton University has released its January Rural Mainstreet Index – a survey of bank CEOs living in rural communities across a 10-state region.

This month’s survey marks the fifth-straight month where the index has been below the growth neutral mark.

Ernie Goss, PhD, Jack A. MacAllister Chair in regional economics at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business, shares the continued pessimism from the rural bankers surveyed can be attributed to a few different things.

“We’re talking about somewhat weaker agricultural commodity prices and likewise, the higher interest rates are beginning to cut into what’s going on at the farm,” Goss shared on the AgriTalk podcast. “Also, the global economic slowdown – whether that’s in China, Asia or Europe – is having some impacts on the farm economy. That’s what bankers are telling us.”

Attitudes toward the economy, however, may be on the rise. While the January survey was still below growth-neutral with a reading of 48.1, it was actually up from December’s reading of 41.7. The index ranges between 0 and 100, with a reading of 50.0 representing growth neutral.

Goss says the long-term outlook for agriculture is still very positive, with little issues in the short-to-intermediate-term outlook – especially for ag retailers.

“Delinquencies are up a bit, but less than one percentage point – so that’s the good news. I think it’s more to do with what’s going on in rural main street businesses,” he says. “That will be the retailers and the farm equipment sellers. They’re seeing some slowdowns and that’s what bankers are seeing reporting on.”

Echoing Goss’ point is the survey’s farm equipment-sales index. In January, it dropped to a reading of 47.9 from December’s reading of 49.5 –marking the seventh time in the past eight months the number has been below growth neutral.

A Bright Spot
More optimistic areas of the survey revolved around farmland. This includes the farmland price index, which read 64.0 and has been growth neutral every month since November 2019, as well as the outlook for farmland transition.

When asked about the share of farm clients facing generational transition, the bankers expected 53.8% to transfer ownership to heirs and 42.3% to sell to other farmers in the area.

“In my judgment, there’s too much hype about the sales going to the Chinese and sales going to others outside [of the country],” Goss says. “It’s mostly within the community, and that’s good in my judgment. That bodes well in the long term for the agricultural sector.”

To hear more from Goss, listen to this episode of AgriTalk .

Which Foreign Country Owns the Most Farmland in the U.S.? Hint: It's Not China

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 17:24:37 GMT

Controversy continues to grow across the U.S., and China is the primary target of the new rules. However, China doesn’t own the most farmland in the U.S., according to a new USDA report. It’s actually Canada, which accounts for 32%, or 14.2 million acres.

Rounding out the top five are the Netherlands at 12%, Italy at 6%, the United Kingdom at 6% and Germany at 5%. Together, citizens in those countries hold 13 million acres, or 29%, of the foreign-held acres in the U.S. China owns less than 1%, or 349,442 acres.

(Farm Journal)

All told, 43.4 million acres of forest and farmland in the U.S., or 3.4% of all ag land, is foreign owned as of Dec. 31, 2022. Roughly 30 million of those acres are reported as foreign-owned, with the remainder primarily under a 10-year-or-longer lease. Of the 30 million, 66% is owner-operated, 14% has a tenant or sharecropper as the producer and 12% report a manager other than the owner or a tenant/sharecropper as producer. The remaining 7% are “NA.”

USDA says the two biggest Chinese-owned companies with land holdings in the U.S. are Brazos Highland and Murphy Brown LLC, which owns Smithfield Foods. Brazos Highland reported owning 102,345 acres, and Smithfield owns 97,975 acres.

(Farm Journal)

The top five states with the largest Chinese holdings are:

Texas at 162,167 acres
North Carolina at 44,776 acres
Missouri at 43,071 acres
Utah at 32,447 acres
Virginia at 14,382 acres

More States to Take Up Possible Bans in 2024

Foreign-held farmland has become a hot button topic on Capitol Hill. Farm Journal Washington correspondent Jim Wiesemeyer thinks it will continue to gain momentum in 2024 as a political ploy used by candidates.

“It’s an emotional issue, and it’s not a simple issue either,” Wiesemeyer says. “I was recently in Missouri, and some commodity leaders worry about the negative consequences of going too far. No one’s saying China should not be watched relative to buying farmland near airports, national security is involved in that case, but more than a few farmers are looking at the potential downsides for pork producers who contract with Smithfield and the number of acres they own.”

One of those unintended consequences is playing out in Arkansas.

“I’m announcing Syngenta, a Chinese state-owned agrichemical company, must give up its landing holdings in Arkansas,” says Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, referencing a 160-acre research site owned by Northrup King Seed, a Syngenta subsidiary.

Eric Boeck, president of Syngenta Seeds North America, told Farm Journal editor Clinton Griffiths: “EPA and USDA many times require us to do work and permitting right in the same state as we’re going to sell products. One of the first things we have to make sure we figure out is how we work with the local community to make sure we’re still getting products tested in their backyard, so we have the ability to sell those products.”

(Farm Journal)

Syngenta argues if they sell that particular farm, Arkansas farmers will be at a disadvantage because research can’t be done in the same weather and soil conditions.

“We’re heavy in the soybean market in Arkansas, some of those maturity zones, we have a very significant market share and savings,” Boeck says. “We want to make sure we’re protecting those farmers’ abilities to be able to use our products.”

Wiesemeyer says the bigger issue for U.S. farmland might be solar panels, with farmers in states like Missouri reporting companies have offered to pay more than $1,000 per acre cash rent to put solar panels on their farm. At such a high price, he says it’s eating up acres of farmland, with the potential to grow even more in 2024.

Foreign Ownership In Pork More Dangerous Than Farmland?

Fri, 27 Oct 2023 18:54:20 GMT

Few news items in the ag media enjoyed the endurance of the discovery that Chinese owners have amassed nearly 400,000 acres of U.S. farmland.

These breathless reveals seldom include any numbers to put this acreage in perspective. Like the fact the U.S. has 900 million acres of farmland, with over 350 million in crop land. One numerically challenged legislator even proclaimed this tiny sliver of land represented a threat to the U.S. food supply.

All this would be simple political-xenophobic silliness, but for the fact that they were looking at, but not recognizing, a larger threat to U.S. farms and food consumers. In 2013, the Chinese industrial meat-packing conglomerate Shineway (U.S. spelling) purchased Smithfield farms and about 150,000 acres surrounding their plants and production facilities. At the time, it comprised about a quarter of American pork slaughter. Today, that number is around 20%.

Lessons from Ukraine
Now consider the crumbling commercial relationships between the U.S. and China, as well as Xi Jinping’s ego-driven blundering on economic policy, and add in what we are learning from the war in Ukraine. A starkly adversarial future with China is suddenly more conceivable. Taiwan is the likely focus, but how this conflict might play out is foreshadowed by Russia and Ukraine.

U.S. firms withdrew from Russia in protest. McDonald’s is a prime example, but the most potent blow to Putin’s economy was the quiet quitting of U.S. financial firms. It’s not a leap of imagination to apply that to a China-U.S. faceoff. What actions might a stern phone call from Xi persuade Wan Long, the chairman of WH Group (the parent of Smithfield Foods) to take in support of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan? A far-fetched idea for sure, but not if the Chinese leader requires a diversion.

As financially damaging as it would be, Xi surely knows interrupting Smithfield’s massive conveyor belt from piglet to plate would create chaos in pork markets and spread to a huge swath of our economy. From supermarkets to seed corn companies, it could likely dwarf the consequences to the ag economy from the pandemic. Ironically, seizing Chinese land holdings in retaliation will compound the disaster as Smithfield is the largest Chinese farmland holder.

Knowing such an idea would be financial self-mutilation didn’t stop Putin. China’s military options promise catastrophe for their naval forces and limited ground success at best. In confrontation with the U.S., Xi will undoubtedly deploy economic weapons. Based on the political turmoil in China already swelling, Xi has shown a willingness to throw even billionaires like Wan under buses. Not to mention our pork industry.

A Unique Gift the Whole Farm Will Want

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 12:49:39 GMT

Need a gift for the grower, child or farmer-customer in your life? Two companies have thought of a product that caters to the farm kid in all of us.

Aerial Rug and Boundri are using satellite imagery to create custom farm products that allow imaginations to run wild in farmers young and old. Whether it’s a wall hanging for the farm office, a blanket for a client, or their most popular item: rugs that take carpet farming to the next level.

“I’ve got little kids, and I wanted to create something kind of cool for them,” says Nathan Faleide of Boundri. “I bought a rug and made one of a farm field in North Dakota. I brought some old farm toys that I had as a kid out and they really seemed to enjoy it.”

Faleide, who has a nearly 30-year background in satellite imagery, saw his product quickly go viral on Twitter.

Susan Stroud’s company, Aerial Rug, was built from similar inspiration. Her son’s love for farm toys sparked the idea of farm landscape rugs.

“We created all sorts of different already laid out landscapes like a feed yard in Kansas or a gold mine out west,” Stroud says. “We quickly realized it was a market for something custom and people wanted their own farms on rugs.”

Though both companies started with carpet farming in mind, they recognize their custom items are meaningful for anyone with a passion for agriculture – no matter the age.

“I had one customer who got one of the farm for his dad. His dad is retired and lives in town but it’s in the front door of his house,” Faleide says. “They don’t even own the farm anymore so it’s a nice memento.”

Faleide shares other customers have placed the rugs in their offices or used them for farm safety demonstrations with local schools. Stroud has also had orders from real estate brokers who give them to clients.

How to Bring the Farm Indoors
To get these customized gifts under the Christmas tree, the process varies slightly between the companies.
Aerial Rug uses customer-submitted photos, screenshots, addresses, etc. as a guide to know where to pull satellite images. And according to Stroud, they’re able to work with just about anything.

“Someone sent me a photo of one of those old flyover pictures that were popular in the 80s and 90s,” she says. “We were able to use image enhancing and we printed that old school image on a rug.”

Boundri customers use a free mapping program on the company’s website to build their own product, which the company hopes will save time and improve accuracy. They input their address or zoom into a specific area and manipulate the map view or layers to their liking. Customers can also upload their own drone or logo files to the program.

Both companies are able to use a few different years of satellite imagery if the customer has a preference to the time of year the photo was taken, but there are limitations to what is available in rural areas.

Things to Know Before Ordering
Rugs from either company are available in multiple different sizes, depending on the customer’s needs and price point, and are made from a woven polyester material similar to an outdoor rug.

As for their durability, Faleide has put one to the ultimate test.

“I had an extra rug and gave it to my local daycare where my kids go,” he says. “It’s been played on nonstop for the last year and still looks good. I call that probably 10 years of experience in one year for being at a daycare.”

The size of the farm that will fit on a rug depends as well. Some customers are looking to achieve a 1/64 scale to match the size of farm toys (which according to Stroud would fit 20 to 25 acres), some prefer to have the farmstead prominent, and some just want to include as much land as possible.

Rugs from Aerial Rug take about 10 to 14 days from the time the order is approved by the customer and Boundri will need seven to 10 days from when the order is processed.

If a custom farm rug sounds like the perfect Christmas gift for someone on your list, both companies have set the first week of December as their cutoff to guarantee it makes its way onto Santa’s sleigh.

What Makes 2023 Land Sales Different Than 2022 or 2021?

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 16:37:54 GMT

On the heels of the September WASDE report, Davis Michaelson welcomed Doug Hensley from Hertz Real Estate on AgriTalk.

With yields and crop prices top of mind, Michaelson took the opportunity to ask Hensley: How much do crop prices actually impact the decision-making process of farmland buyers?

“Crop prices are one of the primary impacts when farmers are buying and/or selling land, but predominantly buying,” Hensley says. “The thing people often get caught up in is looking at any particular day in any particular week and saying, ‘Oh, this doesn’t pencil out a profit for me in today’s market.’ But when you think back over the last nine to 12 months, there have been opportunities to forward contract and hedge the 2023 crop at pretty profitable levels, though maybe not as profitable as it was a year ago. It’s important to look at production over a period of years to tell a bigger story.”

With that in mind, historical data on a field ranks up there in importance when buying land. “Get a hold of the 10-year APH data,” Hensley encourages.

How 2023 Stacks Up

Three-quarters of the way through 2023, Hensley says it’s been a steady year and actually a bit busier than anticipated after the record pace of land sales in 2021 and 2022 because of record profitability.

From 2015 through 2020, he says there were folks interested in selling land, but they sat on it because of the weak market. When the market turned in 2021, and especially in 2022, he saw a lot of people hit the button to go to auction.

“When you have a strong market over a 24-to-30-month period, at some point, it’s going to slow down,” Hensley says. “I thought that was going to happen in 2023, and it has slowed some, but not quite as much as I thought. In spite of lower grain prices and higher interest rates, we’re still seeing the market hold itself together pretty well.”

The depth in the market, from a buyer’s perspective, is not as great as it was a year ago, he says, except for top-quality farms, in terms of soil quality and drainage.

A year ago, when farmland went to auction, there might have been five or six buyers ready to line up and compete for it, Hensley says. Today, there’s still competition, but there might be two or three buyers who are really competing until the end.

When there are fewer buyers, land is less likely to sell for a record price. A year ago, almost every sale was a new record for the county or the area, but that hasn’t been the case across the Midwest this year.

“It was almost a powder keg last fall because of good yields and good prices. People were really flush,” Hensley says. “In today’s market, I think there’s still a ton of cash out there, but given a change in the economy, people are starting to be a little more protective of their liquidity.”

It’s not to say they won’t bid and buy, he adds, because they will. On Sept. 12, Hertz Real Estate had almost a $21,000 per acre sale, and the same was true almost two weeks ago.

From his standpoint, it’s important to be discerning as to which farms make the most sense to take to auction versus which ones to offer privately to the market, and how to go about it.

“This is a more interesting time in the land business because you get to be a broker and you’re solving problems and helping people navigate through a shifting market.”