Agricultural Land

Government Seizes Farmer’s Land to Build Airport for Corporate Jets and Business Hangars

Tue, 12 May 2026 13:46:37 GMT

The government is taking Jeff Melin’s Georgia farm. His crime? Preserving 450 acres and pouring blood, sweat, and tears into the property.

“We already gave the government land for eminent domain,” he says. “Now they’re back wanting more. Now they want it all.”

Even in the nightmare realm of eminent domain power grabs, Melin’s case is particularly shocking. His farmland is being obliterated, with roughly 225 acres ripped from the middle of his operation to house an airport: Cows replaced by corporate jets. Barns replaced by hangars.

“And it’s not even for commercial passengers,” he says. “It’s an airport for billionaires to park their jets and big businesses to have hangars.”

“My grandfather, dad, and myself protected this land,” Melin continues. “We survived depressions and disasters, and kept this place together for decades. My dad turned down millions of dollars, over and over, from subdivisions.”

Melin describes a sickening contradiction of farmland preservation. “We sacrificed to keep this wonderful place whole, and now that’s why they want it. How could it be more ironic? If we’d have built on it or trashed it, they’d leave it alone. The better and longer you take care of your land, the more at risk you are to losing it.”

Insult to deepest injury, Melin is getting a per acre pittance for his land, he says. “They force me to sell against my will and then pay a fraction of the value. And I’m not allowed to turn them down. My story will make you question what kind of country you’re living in.”

Heaven No More
Sixty miles south of Atlanta, in Spalding County, Melin stares across gentle hills veined with creeks, rubbing against a mix of pastures and woods: cattle, water, deer plots, dove field, pecan grove, and much more. Despite the beauty, it also contains a withering family legacy.

“Our farm was not for sale at any price because our lives were molded around this land,” says Jeff Melin.

(Photo courtesy of Melin Farms)

Awaiting grinding at the edge of the 70-acre pecan grove, a chain of toppled trees stretches like fallen dominoes, with many of the specimens over a century in age. Concrete poles are already in place as pecans give way to power lines. Soon, grass will give way to a 6,000’ asphalt runway, as part of a 730-acre new airport for Spalding County.

“I’ve got 90 days to get my stuff out of a 40’-by-60’ shop so they can get started,” Melin describes. “It’s an order to vacate. That means 90 days to move 75 years worth of farm equipment. I don’t even know where I’ll put all the tools, welders, compressors, and all the rest. I don’t have another shop built. I’ve got to get rid of at least 65 cows and 30 calves right off the bat.”

“They’ve killed my farm,” he adds. “This will be the end of me. And when I say, ‘they,’ I mean the county, state, and federal government. All three are involved with this airport.”

“All together, they’re taking about 225 acres from the middle of my operation. They’re leaving me land in the back that’s landlocked, that I can’t get to, and then leaving me land on the front of one side that’s going to be landlocked. I never dreamed this is how it’d end. For sure, my grandfather and dad (John Bennett Melin) never dreamed it, either. This was heaven to us.”

In 1951, the Melin clan pulled stakes in Red Wing, Minnesota and moved over 1,200 miles to Griffin, Georgia, hauling cattle the whole way, to start Melin Brothers Polled Herefords.

Melin’s 450-acre farm is split into four parcels. The county is taking a 225-acre strip from the middle.

(Photo courtesy of Melin Farms)

“I love everything this farm represents—heart and soul,” Melin says. “I love it so much that I took a job close to home as a mechanic at Delta Airlines so that I could work the land and help my dad. We grew up with sacrifice. Didn’t matter if it was family vacation or Thanksgiving—somebody had to be here to feed. People in farming know exactly what I’m saying. Our farm was not for sale at any price because our lives were molded around this land.”

“At 57 and approaching retirement age, to have your land and life snatched away feels like a terrible dream, but I know it’s real. It all started with a newspaper article: They didn’t even have the decency to knock on my door.”

Blood and Tears
In 2012, Melin opened a morning newspaper to find himself in the bull’s-eye of eminent domain’s “common good.” The existing Spalding County airport’s runway was deemed too short, and Melin’s farm was listed among four to five potential sites to build a new airport on 730 acres, including 124 hangars for express and corporate jets.

The opening stage of airport-related construction commences as a power line takes out a pecan grove on Melin’s land.

(Photo courtesy of Melin Farms)

According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, a new airport would generate $24 million in economic impact per year for Spalding County.

Melin was stunned. His ground is hilly. “I thought it was impossible. A mistake. Why build an airport in hills? I couldn’t imagine the amount of dirt moving and earthworks and boxing creeks it’d take to build an airport on my land. I mean, it even requires moving power lines and a gas line.”

No matter. Melin’s land is open and near town. Case closed, in the county’s eyes.

“We’re an old mill town. There’s plenty of other spots that are flatter, but they don’t want to deal with the legalities and paperwork. Better to take prime agriculture ground preserved across my dad’s lifetime at a cost of blood and tears. There’s a lot of other dilapidated land around here, but it’s not open and would require diligence and hassle. Better to steal mine. There was no public vote or opportunity to say no. Nothing.”

Melin’s 450-acre farm is split into four parcels. The county is taking a 225-acre strip from the middle. Irony upon irony, Melin already had willfully ceded ground to eminent domain. “Many times in the past, for genuine public good, we got out of the way when roads were widened, because we cared about people’s safety. This is not that. This is greed and power.”

An Honest Dollar
Letters and studies. Environmental. Archeological. Ecological.

“They dragged it out, year after year, and never let you know what was really going on,” Melin contends. “They never listened. They never communicated with us face to face. They didn’t come to my house. They didn’t seek me out. They didn’t come find me and say anything. They sent a few letters and made their announcements.”

“It just doesn’t seem like America when someone shows up and says, ‘We’re taking your land for a set price, and you’ll like it or else,’” says Melin.

(Photo courtesy of Melin Farms)

“It was shoddy. No matter what I said, they’d respond, ‘We just have to keep on doing studies.’ This was a foregone conclusion, but they pretended otherwise. They didn’t even know there were five gas lines under me and were going to put hangars on top of them.”

Money doesn’t replace lifeblood, but Melin assumed he’d receive a “fair price” for his land.

Melin had fair reasoning behind his assumption: According to the county, there was nowhere else to build an airport presented as indispensable and necessary. Arguably, Melin was sitting atop the most vital land in Spalding County.

“Nope. They wouldn’t give me an honest dollar.”

Like It or Else
Every year, Melin poured in money to improve his land and soils. Fertilizer, lime, weed control, and myriad other management costs—even foot patrol with a backpack sprayer to kill thistle. “None of that goes into their valuations. All I can do about value is look around and make reasonable judgements based on how much got paid recently for land recently around me. There was an old cattle farm right down the road that we did business with for years. It was 100 acres, fenced and cross-fenced, and sold for $75,000 an acre to Georgia Power for a substation. The owner got $7.5M.”

According to schedule, construction of the new Spalding County Airport will begin in 2026 and conclude in 2031.

(Photo by Google Maps)

“About 2 miles from me, the county bought a 29-acre school site and paid $14,000 per acre about 22 years ago: $420,000,” he adds.

However, according to Melin, Spalding County offered a fraction of what the school property brought per acre. “I’m getting lowballed with a percentage of what the other properties sold for, but I can’t refuse the offer. Don’t tell me about federal guidelines and fair market value. I have eyes. I can smell corruption and manipulation. Doesn’t mean I can prove it, but it’s right in front of my face.”

“It just doesn’t seem like America when someone shows up and says, ‘We’re taking your land for a set price, and you’ll like it or else.’”

Farmer In the Way
According to schedule, construction of the new Spalding County Airport will begin in 2026 and conclude in 2031. Within proximity of Melin’s farm, a groundbreaking ceremony is imminent.

“The better and longer you take care of your land, the more at risk you are to losing it,” warns Jeff Melin.

(Photo courtesy of Melin Farms)

“The lieutenant governor, state officials, politicians, and county commissioners will all be there, backslapping, grinning, and congratulating each other,” Melin notes. “Not a one of them can look me in the eye. Can you imagine if eminent domain was used to take their land to park a jet? No, you can’t imagine such, because that would never happen to them.”

“But I’m just a farmer in their way. They’re happy to take my land and call it ‘progress and public good.’ Force me to sell, take my land, and fly in the billionaires and big companies.”

Grass and dirt in a forced exchange for concrete and asphalt. A farm legacy erased by county, state, and federal seizure. “They’re taking my farmland so rich men can have hangars for their jets,” Melin concludes. “That sound like the ‘public good’ of eminent domain?”

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

Stealing the Farm: China Continues Raid of US Agriculture by Theft and Agroterror

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

Georgia Watermelon Heist Explodes into Epic Night of Pandemonium

Sisters of Farm Fraud: How 4 Siblings Fleeced USDA for $10M

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

Cold-Busted: Frozen Deer Decoy Nabs Poachers and Cocaine in Spectacular Sting

Sticky Fingers: USDA Fraudster Steals $200M in Stunning Scam

The Only Thing That Lasts: How Ted Turner’s 2 Million Acres Redefined Land Ownership

Thu, 07 May 2026 17:58:50 GMT

Ted Turner’s rise to the top of the Land Report 100 marked a transformative era of American land ownership. Once the largest private landowner in the U.S., Ted Turner had many titles, business accomplishments and accolades as well.

With his death on May 6, 2026, the discussion of his legacy began. And undoubtedly his impressive 2 million acres is the driving force with a “save everything” philosophy toward land stewardship.

“If you visit any of Ted Turner’s properties, there’s a bumper sticker available that reads, “Save Everything,” says Eric O’Keefe editor of The Land Report. “That was his approach, as far as being a landowner. He was a conservationist, first and foremost.”

Turner built a revolutionary business empire—taking father’s billboard company to building a global media powerhouse, pioneering 24-hour news with CNN and acquiring the MGM film library. His business success fueled his land purchases as he reinvested those profits into large tracts of land across the country, and notably in the western states.

“He was one of the original, in this generation, of corporate magnates who plowed their profits into land, O’Keefe says. He adds Turner was friends with the current No. 1 largest landowner John Malone, who he “gave the land bug to.” And it was Turner’s investments that inspired others including Bill Gates.

Turner’s acquisitions gained momentum in the 1990s, making his the first No. 1 largest landowner when The Land Report started its first ranked list in 2007. In the 2025 Land Report list, Turner was the fourth largest with 2 million acres located in Montana, South Dakota, New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska, Georgia and more.

“He looked around corners in ways that few of us can really comprehend. He was buying the greatest ranches in the American West, and these phenomenal quail plantations decades before anyone else,” he says.

O’Keefe says a hallmark of Turner’s land buying was not only in its accumulation but how he enhanced it with conservation efforts.

“I love that Gone with the Wind quote, and of course, Ted acquired the MGM Library and, owned Gone with the Wind. And the quote is, ‘land, it’s the only thing that lasts.’ And at the end of the day, that was, to him, in my opinion the most powerful element of his legacy.”

The Hidden Cost of Overgrazing: How It Drains Your Watershed, Rainfall and Bottom Line

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 12:01:30 GMT

Overgrazing is a primary driver of water scarcity on rangelands. When livestock repeatedly remove too much leaf area, soil infiltration rates drop, causing rainfall to become surface runoff rather than stored soil moisture. According to Texas A&M AgriLife Research, heavily grazed sites can lose up to 10% of their annual precipitation to runoff — water that could have driven forage production.

Every drop of rain is precious. On healthy rangeland, most of that rainfall enters the soil (infiltration), is stored in the profile and then drives forage production. Under prolonged overgrazing, however, plant vigor declines, roots shrink, litter disappears and soils compact, reducing infiltration, increasing runoff and erosion and shrinking the water available for grass growth. Over time, that damages both watershed function and ranch profitability.

What Overgrazing Does to Water

Less plant cover → less infiltration. Texas A&M Extension work shows that rangeland sites with robust bunchgrass or oak-understory cover retain more rainfall and lose less to runoff than sites dominated by sodgrasses or bare ground. Heavily grazed watersheds at the Sonora Station have shown runoff approaching 10% of annual precipitation, water that could have been growing grass.
More bare ground and compaction → more runoff and sediment. Vegetation and ground cover are the two attributes managers can influence most to control raindrop impact, maintain soil structure and limit concentrated flow erosion; when cover is lost, rills and sheet flow move soil, nutrients and carbon off the pasture and downstream.
Hydrologic decline scales from paddock to watershed. AgriLife Research modeling in northwest Texas found heavy continuous grazing increased bare ground and reduced infiltration, elevating surface runoff, soil erosion and carbon export to streams, while adaptive multi-paddock (AMP) grazing reduced those losses at both ranch and watershed scales.
Stream water quality takes a hit. Edge-of-field monitoring in northeast Texas showed continuously grazed sites produced more than 24% more runoff than pastures under prescribed grazing and had significantly higher loads of nitrate/nitrite and total suspended solids, reflecting the combined effects of reduced infiltration and increased overland flow.

(West Texas Rangelands)

Why Infiltration Matters for Production

Every inch of rainfall that infiltrates instead of running off becomes soil moisture for roots, cooler soil temperatures and more days of active growth. Texas A&M’s classic “Improving Rainfall Effectiveness on Rangeland” illustrates how management that maintains cover and litter can shift water fate toward infiltration and storage, improving rain-use efficiency which translates to more grass per inch of rain.

From a forage and cattle performance standpoint, prolonged overgrazing repeatedly removes leaf area and growing points, which reduces photosynthesis, root mass and regrowth capacity resulting in the plant having fewer “tools” to capture and use the water that does infiltrate. Texas A&M AgriLife’s grazing series details how timing, intensity, and recovery periods govern these plant responses.

The Compounding Costs You Can’t See — At First

Reduced carrying capacity & higher feed costs. Lower infiltration and more runoff → less forage → lower stocking potential or higher reliance on hay and supplements. Over time, repeatedly “mining” residual cover shrinks both grass base and soil function.
More erosion & infrastructure risk. Concentrated flow cuts rills and gullies, damages roads and water gaps, and fills stock ponds with sediment; and these are costs that show up as repairs and lost storage. (NRCS hydrology guidance emphasizes cover as the first line of defense.)
Water quality liabilities. TWRI studies link poor grazing in creek pastures to higher bacteria and sediment delivery during runoff events; rotational/prescribed grazing and keeping livestock out of wet creek pastures during stormy periods reduce those loads dramatically.
Ecological drift. Overgrazed, drought-stressed sites can shift toward weedy/invasive species that livestock avoid, creating a feedback loop of selective overuse on the remaining palatable plants.

What to Do Instead: Practical Fixes that Pay

Match stocking to forage and recovery. Stocking rate is the “gatekeeper” decision; nothing else works if it’s wrong. Build flexibility to reduce numbers when growth slows, and plan for adequate post-graze recovery that changes with rainfall.
Manage timing, duration and distribution. Shorter grazing periods, longer rest and strategic water/mineral placement prevent chronic re-grazing of regrowth and spread hoof impact — core principles in the AgriLife Adaptive Multi-Paddock guidance.
Monitor cover, litter and bare ground. Simple photo points and transects documenting bare ground and litter depth are sensitive early-warning indicators of hydrologic decline; adjust grazing before the problem is expensive (AgriLife’s West Texas Rangelands site offers practical monitoring how-tos and also check out the Rangeland Analysis Platform for current production estimates).
Invest where infiltration starts: the soil surface. Where chronic traffic has sealed the surface, recovery requires rest + cover, not more grazing. NRCS and AgriLife hydrology guidance are clear: vegetation cover is the most manager-controllable driver of infiltration, compaction and erosion resistance on rangeland.

The Bottom Line

Prolonged overgrazing is more than a forage or drought problem; it’s a management problem that creates water scarcity. It trades infiltration for runoff, soil for loose dirt and carrying capacity for input costs. The fixes are well-known: destock, shorten grazing bouts, lengthen recovery and monitor cover and bare ground. Those steps rebuild infiltration, stabilize soils and turn the same rainfall into more grass and healthier soils.

Visit the West Texas Rangelands website for more information on rangeland management and current research on prescribed fire, wildfires, brush management and grazing management.

Primetime to Reform the Conservation Reserve Program

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:26:06 GMT

Droughts, border closures , New World screwworm (NWS) , Argentina beef imports, wildfires, packing plant slowdowns and a 75-year-low in the U.S. cattle inventory — those aren’t just headlines, they are the realities cattle producers are working through every day. They have added volatility to the markets, but they have also created something else. Opportunity.

From my perspective as a feedlot operator in northwest Iowa, that opportunity is sitting right in front of us. When cattle numbers get this tight, everyone feels it. Feedlots are not running at capacity. Packers adjust. Rural communities feel it too. The market is sending a clear signal. We need more cattle.

Iowa is in a strong position to respond. We have the feed, the infrastructure and the people to not only finish cattle, but to help rebuild the cow herd. The piece we continue to run up against is access to land.

That is where the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) needs a harder look.

CRP was designed with good intentions, and it has delivered real conservation benefits. But today, it is also functioning as direct competition for land. When government-backed payments are strong enough to take acres completely out of production, it shifts the market. It drives up rental rates and limits access for farmers and ranchers who are trying to actively use that land.

At the same time, program requirements have created unintended consequences. In many cases, land has needed a recent row-crop history to qualify for enrollment. That has led to pasture being broken out and fences coming out, not because it made sense for the land long-term, but because it made sense to fit within a program. Once that infrastructure is gone, it is not easily replaced.

On the other side, Iowa producers are often shut out of opportunities like Grasslands CRP. Because our land is so productive and has a strong cropping history, we do not always meet the eligibility requirements that favor existing grass-based systems. So we end up in a situation where working pasture is reduced, and at the same time, we are limited in accessing programs that could actually support grazing.

That is a disconnect.

We are taking land out of livestock production, discouraging long-term pasture investment, and making it harder to rebuild the cow herd. All of this is happening at a time when cattle numbers are historically low, and demand signals are strong.

There is a better way to approach it.

Managed grazing within CRP offers a solution that keeps conservation goals intact while putting land back to work. Grazing, when done right, improves soil structure, supports plant diversity and maintains ground cover. It keeps the land functioning as it was intended, while also contributing to the food supply.

More importantly, it creates access. It gives producers, especially younger ones, a way to get started without competing against a system that is designed to sideline the land entirely.
For those of us in the feeding sector, rebuilding the cow herd starts with grass. Without it, there is no pathway to expand. Without it, we continue to tighten supply and limit the future of the industry.

The current situation should push us to think differently. Conservation and cattle production are not opposing goals. In many cases, they are strongest when they work together.

Reforming CRP to allow for responsible, managed grazing and to remove some of the barriers that have worked against pasture and livestock production is a practical step forward. It keeps conservation benefits in place while recognizing the need for active land use.

If we are serious about rebuilding the cow herd, supporting rural economies, and creating opportunities for the next generation, we have to address how land is being used.

This is one of those moments where policy and opportunity line up. We should not let it pass us by.

— Craig Moss from Hull, Iowa, is currently serving as the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association (ICA) president

The World Needs More McArthurs

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 20:55:05 GMT

There’s a new song in country music that’s striking a chord with American farm families.

“McArthur,” sung by Hardy, Eric Church, Morgan Wallen and Tim McGraw, tells the story of a farm passed through four generations of the same family. Each verse introduces a new McArthur, carrying the land forward in his own time, shaped by different circumstances but tied to the same piece of ground.

That’s the same story many farmers are living today. And if you haven’t heard it yet, take a listen.

John McArthur

The song begins with John McArthur, a man working the land with a mule and a plow to provide for his family. As the first generation, John spends his days laying the foundation of the farm. He doesn’t know what the future holds for the operation, but he knows the work is worth it.

Every farm has this first generation: the person who gave the farm its start. Our grandparents or great-grandparents built the farm out of necessity without knowing what was ahead.

They planted the first crops, cleared the first fields and figured things out as they went. The decisions they made might not have seemed big at the time, but they laid the groundwork for the generations that followed. Even without a map, they knew the farm was something worth building and passing on.

Junior McArthur

Next comes Junior McArthur, the son who steps up to take over the farm but is sent off to war and never returns home.

He represents the second generation: the ones who take over a farm that’s already established but face challenges much different from what their parents experienced. Where John built the foundation, Junior inherits it and has to figure out how to keep it going.

Jones McArthur

After Junior comes Jones McArthur, the third generation to farm the same ground. By the time it’s his turn, the farm is running smoother, but the problems he’s dealing with aren’t the same ones his dad faced. He represents the generation trying to respect what was built while figuring out how to make it work in a more modern world.

In the song, Jones is also the one trying to pass along the lessons he learned growing up on the farm. He understands the value of the land and the work that went into building it, and he tries to teach his son the same thing.

But his son comes home from college seeing something different. Where Jones sees a family history, his son sees the dollar signs tied to the land.

Hunter McArthur

Finally, the song introduces Hunter McArthur. He’s the fourth generation, the one now standing in front of the decision many farms eventually face.

In the lyrics, Hunter is presented with a deal that would turn the farm into a neighborhood. It’s a tempting offer. After generations of hard work, the land is suddenly worth a lot of money.

Hunter represents the generation many farms are looking to today. The farm is established and the land has significant value, but the question becomes what to do with it next.

For many young farmers, this generation faces a different set of decisions from the ones before them. They have more opportunities off the farm and often more outside pressure pulling them in different directions. At the same time, they’re inheriting or buying into farms that have decades of work behind them.

A Familiar Tune

At the end of each generation’s part in the song, a line is sung: “When you pass on, what are you going to pass down?”

Farming has always been about passing things along. Each generation takes what the last one started and tries to make it better, but that chain only works if someone is willing to take the next link.

Today, the pressures on the next generation are real. Land values keep climbing, development keeps pushing farther into the countryside, and, for some families, the offer to sell the farm is hard to pass up. But most farms exist because someone in the previous generation chose to keep it going. They made improvements and worked through challenges with the idea that the farm would be there for the next generation to build on.

The world could use more farmers like the McArthurs. So, when it’s time to think about the next generation, ask yourself this: When you pass on, what are you going to pass down?

For more on succession planing, read:

What is the New Grazing MOU?

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:45:09 GMT

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum have signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to modernize federal grazing management and boost the domestic beef supply. This agreement bridges the gap between the U.S. Forest Service (FS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to cut bureaucratic red tape, streamline grazing permits and ensure “no net loss” of grazing capacity for the 20,000 American ranchers across 28 states who graze on federal lands.

FS and the BLM are responsible for a total of 240 million acres of federal rangelands. The two agencies together administer more than 23,000 permits and leases held by ranchers who graze their livestock on approximately 29,000 allotments. About 10% of grazing allotments, or roughly 24 million acres, are not under permit but are targeted as opportunities to allow more grazing on federal lands. The FS collects an average of $6 million annually in grazing fees.

Modernizing the Forest Service and BLM Partnership

According to a USDA press release , the agreement formalizes collaboration between the USDA and the Department of the Interior to ensure more efficient, transparent and responsive management across federal lands. By building on the recently released Grazing Action Plan , the agencies aim to eliminate costly bureaucracy and lower consumer prices.

“Today’s signing sends a clear message: the Trump administration is putting America’s farmers and ranchers first,” Rollins says. “Building on our action plan for American ranchers announced in the fall, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are already delivering.”

Burgum adds the partnership is dedicated to strengthening ranching operations while safeguarding public lands.

“By working closely with American ranchers, we are enhancing communication, investing in innovation and modernizing our approach to land management practices to deliver real results for the people who feed and sustain this country,” he says.

A “No Net Loss” Mandate for Animal Unit Months (AUMs)

A central pillar of the MOU is the commitment to maintaining grazing capacity wherever possible. The agreement affirms a goal of “no net loss” of animal unit months (AUMs) within allotments.

To support this, federal agencies will look to expand practical land management tools, including the reopening of vacant allotments. Currently, about 10% of grazing allotments — roughly 24 million acres — are not under permit and represent a significant opportunity to increase domestic beef production.

For generations, ranchers have played a vital role in feeding the nation, supporting rural economies and stewarding public lands. The MOU recognizes permittees as essential partners and directs federal agencies to engage directly with those who live and work on the land.

Bridging the Gap Between Agencies and Producers

To foster a deeper understanding of the industry, the MOU introduces “Ranch Immersion” programs for federal employees. These initiatives will place agency staff on working ranches to build firsthand knowledge of operational challenges. Additionally, the agreement focuses on:

Structured Engagement: Expanding collaboration through learning roundtables.
Data Access: Improving data systems to make allotment information more predictable for producers.
Streamlined Permitting: Reducing delays for infrastructure improvements and permit renewals.

Wildfire Response: New Liaisons for Grazing Permittees

Recognizing the constant threat of wildfire to Western rangelands, the MOU establishes grazing permittee wildfire liaisons. These liaisons will ensure ranchers have a direct point of contact and a voice during both wildfire response and recovery efforts. Furthermore, the agreement promotes the use of targeted grazing as a tool to reduce fuel loads and mitigate wildfire risk, alongside the adoption of innovative technologies like virtual fencing.

According to the USDA press release , the agreement supports not only producers, but also American families by strengthening the domestic food supply chain. By lowering costs and improving efficiency for ranchers, the initiative helps keep food affordable and reduces reliance on foreign imports.

“Today’s signing marks an important step forward in modernizing federal grazing management and reflects a broader commitment to rural prosperity by fortifying the American beef industry as directed by President Trump’s order Ensuring Affordable Beef for the American Consumer ,” the release says.

Ranchers Called, Agencies Answered

Public lands ranchers joined Secretaries Rollins and Burgum as they signed the MOU to launch their Grazing Action Plan.

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and Public Lands Council (PLC) leaders and members then participated in a roundtable discussing cooperative work to address longstanding challenges for federal lands grazing permittees. PLC President Tim Canterbury, PLC Past President Mark Roeber and Industry Issues Committee Chairman Nate Thomson were joined by NCBA President-elect Kim Brackett, American National CattleWomen (ANCW) Past President Nikki Weston, Washington ranchers Stephanie and Nick Martinez, Arizona permittee Dan Bell, and Colorado rancher Nancy Roberts in raising critical ranching issues to be addressed.

“Public lands ranchers are resilient by nature, but we still need significant relief from the burdensome federal regulations that make it harder to do our jobs every day. This MOU will make it easier to ranch on public lands and will help improve the health of western landscapes,” Canterbury says. “By speeding up the permitting process and expanding the use of targeted grazing, the federal government is ensuring that more ranchers will keep ranching and that rangelands will face less degradation and destruction from wildfires and mismanagement.”

This plan focuses on boosting rancher resiliency by assessing vacant allotments, unifying permitting frameworks between agencies, expanding the use of targeting grazing to prevent wildfires, and establishing a rancher liaison program for wildfire incident command centers.

“When you raise cattle on federal lands, it requires a great deal of work to sort through the government red tape. This plan will cut bureaucracy by streamlining the permitting process, expanding grazing access, and optimizing targeted grazing in areas that are the most vulnerable to wildfires,” Brackett explains. “This MOU will provide much needed regulatory relief to ranchers and make it easier for us to carry out the voluntary conservation essential to maintaining these working lands.”

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A Seat at the Table: How Robbie LeValley Bridges the Gap Between Science and Stewardship

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 16:34:16 GMT

As the world recognizes 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer (IYWF), U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (USRSB) is turning the spotlight on the women shaping agriculture every day here in the U.S. From innovative land management strategies to raising livestock with care and precision, women are vital contributors to our food systems and communities.

From Wyoming Roots to Colorado Stewardship

A fourth-generation rancher, Robbie LeValley is a passionate advocate for public lands and sustainable beef production.

LeValley operates a diversified cow-calf operation in western Colorado, where her work reflects a deep commitment to stewardship and the long-term viability of both land and livestock. Her story reflects resilience and a strong belief that agriculture can, and must, balance productivity with environmental care.

LeValley’s connection to ranching began in northwest Wyoming, where she grew up on a cow-calf operation south of Cody. From an early age, she experienced firsthand the realities of working lands that blended private acreage with federal grazing allotments, a model that continues to shape her approach today.

After attending junior college, she transferred to Colorado State University, where she earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in animal science. Shortly after, in 1989, a career opportunity in livestock extension enabled her to remain in Colorado, the same year she became part of the LeValley Ranch through marriage.

Since then, LeValley has helped build and sustain a multigenerational operation alongside her family, blending tradition with innovation to ensure the ranch’s long-term success.

(Photo Provided By Robbie LeValley)

The “Power of And": Balancing Production and Conservation

Today, the LeValley Ranch is a diverse and dynamic operation. In addition to running a cow-calf herd, the ranch integrates multiple business components, including grazing management across public and private lands, a USDA-inspected processing facility, retail beef sales, and recreational opportunities.

Central to LeValley’s work is a commitment to conservation and land stewardship. Through years of rangeland monitoring, she has helped document improvements in both vegetation and overall ecosystem function. Her science-based approach allows her to demonstrate that well-managed grazing can support both livestock production and wildlife habitat.

“It’s not about choosing one or the other,” LeValley explains. “It’s about the ‘and.’ It’s about livestock and wildlife, production and conservation.”

This philosophy has not only guided the ranch’s management decisions but has also positioned it for collaboration. LeValley regularly welcomes producers, policymakers, environmental groups and members of the public onto the ranch to see the science in action and the outcomes firsthand.

In 2023, the LeValley Ranch was recognized with the prestigious Leopold Conservation Award, honoring its dedication to sustainable land management and environmental stewardship.

(Photo Provided By Robbie LeValley)

Data-Driven Decisions: Grazing as the Solution

Beyond the ranch, LeValley’s career reflects a lifelong commitment to education and service.

From 1989 to 2012, she served as a Tri River Area extension agent, working directly with producers and communities to strengthen agricultural practices and outreach. Today, she continues to support research and innovation through her involvement in agricultural and meat science initiatives.

Her background in science plays a critical role in how she approaches ranching. By collecting and interpreting data on rangeland conditions, LeValley is able to make informed decisions and communicate the positive impacts of well-managed grazing systems.

That ability has proven especially important in conversations around public lands, where misconceptions about agriculture can persist.

“Too often, grazing is seen as the problem,” she says. “But when you have the data, you can show it’s part of the solution.”

Advocacy in Action: Ensuring the Producer’s Voice is Heard

LeValley’s influence extends across the beef industry through her involvement in numerous organizations at the local, state and national levels. She has dedicated countless hours to ensuring that the voice of producers is represented in policy discussions and industry initiatives.

Her leadership roles include past service with the Public Lands Council, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, Society for Range Management and Colorado Beef Council.

For LeValley, this involvement is not optional; it is essential.

“If we’re not at the table, we don’t have a voice,” she explains. “The infrastructure, policies and opportunities we have today exist because previous generations stepped up. It’s our responsibility to do the same.”

Her commitment to collaboration is also evident in her mentorship of the next generation. Whether working with young producers or early-career ranchers, she emphasizes the importance of strong relationships and thoughtful decision-making.

(Photo Provided By Robbie LeValley)

Leading in Action

As a woman in agriculture, LeValley has witnessed both challenges and progress throughout her career. Her perspective is grounded not in titles or recognition, but in action.

“Leadership doesn’t always mean being out front,” she says. “Sometimes it means supporting others, and that’s just as important.”

She hopes young women entering agriculture will see that leadership is demonstrated through daily work and integrity, not just words.

Her advice is simple but powerful:

Work hard.
Build relationships.
Find mentors.
Lead by example.

“Work hard in silence,” she adds. “Let success make the noise.”

Continuing the Story

LeValley’s impact reaches far beyond her own operation. She is helping shape the future of ranching and the role of women in agriculture.

Her work demonstrates that stewardship and productivity are not opposing goals; they are interconnected. By embracing both, she is advancing the beef industry and ensuring its resilience for years to come.

As the International Year of the Woman Farmer continues, stories like LeValley’s highlight the leadership of women across agriculture.
They remind us that ranching is more than a livelihood; it is a legacy shaped by care for the land and a strong sense of purpose for the future.

Learn more about sustainable beef and producer leadership by visiting U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and Public Lands Council websites.

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

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 18:00:32 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 00:58:53 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.”

America’s Top 100 Landowners: The Totals Are Bigger And Consolidation Continues

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 17:29:57 GMT

The Land Report released its annual list of top 100 landowners in the U.S., and the popularity of land means the big keep getting bigger.

There is a new No. 1 biggest owner, Stan Kroenke, who surged to the top spot after acquiring the 937,000-acre Singleton ranch in New Mexico. He now owns more than 2.7 million acres.

Since its inception in 2007, The Land Report’s top spot has been held by someone with at least 2 million acres as Ted Turner was the first holder of the top title.

“2 million has always been the floor,” says Eric O’Keefe, editor of the Land Report.

O’Keefe says this report highlights the trend of landowners doubling down in this asset class.

“There is room at the top for additional acquisitions,” he says. “I don’t expect this to be the last from Kroenke Ranches. I don’t expect this to be the last from the Emersons or the Reeds or the other major timberland owners. I expect that the list will change and re-reorder in years to come.”

The top 100 landowners illustrate how more investment money is coming into land and bringing consolidation.

“It is a function of there’s more money out there than there is land available, and on the investor side of things they like the non-correlation with the stock market, and the positive correlation with inflation, and that’s what’s driving a lot of this interest in farmland,” says Steve Bruere, president of Peoples Company.

O’Keefe gives the example of Jeff Bezos, who in 2007 was No. 23 with 290,000 acres. In 2026, Bezos is ranked No. 21 with 462,000 acres.

“He’s gone up two slots, in 20 years,” he says. “What that tells me is that there is increasing concentration by leading landowners in that asset class. No. 100 in 2007 was 75,000 acres. Now it’s 170,000 acres. And so you’re seeing more individuals, more families, more family offices, more investors looking at land and accumulating greater concentrations.”

What Can Any Landowner Take Away From The Report?

It’s important to note, the top 100 listing is by quantity, which often is more plentiful in ranchland and forestland not row crop or specialty crop production. Bruere says, that doesn’t mean investment dollars aren’t going into row crop ground as well.

“It’s definitely a trend for these high net worth individual family office types are buying farmland,” he says. “I think the farmland market is going to stay pretty stable to maybe even get a little stronger, honestly, just because there’s so much interest in owning land.”

O’Keefe says it’s time to be bullish on land purchases if it’s available to you as an option.

“Buy that 20, that 40, that 160, that seems a little overpriced right now, but it’s going to, in the long run, increase the value of your current holdings, and it’s only going to go up,” O’Keefe says.

He also emphasizes optionality as a takeaway, looking at what monetization is possible from the land.

“I look at Kroenke Ranches, they purchased the Wagner in 2016, more than half a million acres of deeded land behind one fence in Texas,” O’Keefe says. “It had been run primarily as a cattle operation. It had some farming, and it certainly had a wildlife component. Now it has 130 wind turbines that generate 367 megawatts of electricity that can power more than 100,000 homes.”

Old Ranching Heritage Meets New Tech

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 16:30:46 GMT

In Kingsville, Texas, near the Mexico border, the only thing thicker than the accents is the ranching culture.

Natives call it the birthplace of American ranching.

“This is where European immigrants from Scotland, England and Ireland combined with a lot of the native peoples and the Spanish-descended settlers,” says James Clement.

Kingsville is his home, and he knows that heritage well.

“This is where the Catholic mission system and the Western European farming systems collided to create what is known as ranching,” he says.

Much of today’s ranching terminology and practices originated in this South Texas region, and Clement is quick to note that the tradition endures.

“You still see a lot of commitment by the people that own land in this part of the world to maintain large-scale ranches,” he says. “We call this region the last great habitat.”

With his well-worn and scuffed cowboy hat, Clement not only has ranching culture in his heart, it flows through his veins.

At the King Ranch Museum in downtown Kingsville, Clement traces his family’s lineage on a massive, framed portrait that hangs above a stone fireplace. Capt. Richard King and his wife, Henrietta, were Clement’s triple-great-grandparents. His family has all matriculated from the famed King Ranch, a major corporation of modern ranching that has expanded to include farming, luxury retail, recreational hunting and more.

Land of His Own

Though Clement maintains ties to King Ranch, he also now manages his own operation, Bloody Buckets Cattle Co., a ranch deeply steeped in family tradition.

“Our Clement family has been in American military service since the War of 1812, beginning with Sgt. Maj. Kay Clement and his son, Gen. John Clement,” he says. “Four of those generations (from 1812 to 1945), served in the 28^th Division of Pennsylvania.”

During World War II, Clement’s grandfather, Capt. James “Jim” Clement, fought with the division dubbed the Bloody Buckets Division by German forces due to its red keystone insignia

“My grandfather wore the bloody buckets patch on his left shoulder, and we still brand our cattle on the left hip with a brand that is modeled after that patch,” he says.

Bloody Buckets Cattle Co. uses King Ranch American Red genetics. All wear the Bloody Buckets brand on their left hip to pay homage to the ranch’s founder and the family’s military service record.

(Angie Stump Denton)

His grandfather, wounded in France, returned to South Texas as the recipient of a Purple Heart Medal and began a long career with King Ranch, ultimately serving as CEO from 1974 to 1988.

While living in South Texas, he founded Los Hermanos Ranch in 1967, which Clement now operates under the Bloody Buckets Cattle Co. brand. In the 1970s, his father, James “Jamey” Clement Jr., and his uncle, Martin “Martín” Clement II, assumed ownership and day-to-day responsibilities for Los Hermanos. Together, all three men shaped the ranch’s history while each spent his full-time career working for King Ranch.

Clement and his family have been exposed to 400 years of ranching in three operations. Clement’s mother came from the historic Beggs Cattle Company, established in 1876. They, along with their partners, have put that knowledge together and found a way to manage their land and cattle.

“We used the lessons learned from Beggs, King, the experience of our partners and the King Ranch Institute of paying attention to the land, natural resources and wildlife,” he says.

“As we were continuing to grow our operation, we were seeing that we were surviving droughts better, our wildlife quality and quantity was increasing, our water retention was improving and our business lines were growing,” he adds.

A New Approach

Now supporting those heritage practices on-ranch is a host of ag tech advancements. Certainly, they were not seen on his grandfather’s ranch, but Clement knows they are the way of the future, making practices more efficient and easier to accomplish with less labor and fewer man-hours.

He uses Ranchbot Monitoring Systems to keep an eye on his watering systems. Frontiers Market Artificial Intelligence gathers animal health data. On-vehicle cameras are helping to map his land and resources through Enriched Ag.

But his greatest passion lies below the surface in soil carbon capture, so much so that he works as senior vice president and general manager of grass and rangeland for EarthOptics , a company that uses the study of soil biology to predict agronomic outcomes and measure soil carbon. In the role, he helps landowners measure and monetize soil carbon through data-driven insights.

For Clement, it’s a business model that he likens to one he knows well.

“Using an oil and gas analogy, EarthOptics is the drilling company; other people sell the crude (soil carbon in this sense), but we find it.” he says. “What we’re trying to do is help people make more efficient decisions on their land, reduce cost and then potentially also look at additional cash flow streams through the sale of carbon credits.”

Clement calls himself “bullish on carbon” for one particular reason.

“This is really the first opportunity in ranching — first of the growing ecosystem markets — where large companies are paying people to make good stewardship decisions,” he says. “Historically, how did you judge other ranches against each other? Who was selling the most cattle for the most money, selling the most expensive hunts or had the most pump jacks? Now we can pay for taking care of the land and making long-term decisions.”

EarthOptics not only finds a way to quantify and qualify good land and soil stewardship, they validate the data in such a way that farmers and ranchers can capitalize on them.

“We’re at the crossroads of the industry,” Clement says. “EarthOptics is not selling the credits. We’re just advising the ranchers on how to partake in these markets and then also making the introductions and building the industry.”

In November, Bloody Buckets Cattle Company hosted the final 2025 stop in the Trust In Beef Sustainable Ranchers Tour. Owner James Clement III used the event to share the importance his operation places on heritage land stewardship and ag tech advancements for profitability.

(Trust In Beef)

New Land Equals an Accelerated Approach

Clement is broadening the scope of Bloody Buckets Cattle Co., buying additional land and leasing land with his partners, “Poncho” Ortega Sr. and “Poncho” Ortega Jr. They are currently ranching on six ranches in four different South Texas counties. Acquiring new ranches and leases means the work on some of the new land is just beginning.

“On the west side, we acquired some ranches in the last 20 years that had previously been farmed,” he says. “We spend most of our time and resources in the pastures with the worst conditions to build back soil health.”

By applying the same technology he’s helped develop and test elsewhere, Clement is accelerating the restoration process. Their ranching operation has become a testing ground for many of the new ag tech companies in the industry, seeing if these concepts can work in rough country and be beneficial to the operation.

“We’re on a mission to get each of these newer owned or leased properties back in better shape,” he says. “As we expand, we want to make sure that acre is productive.”

Trust In Beef™ works to secure the future of American ranching by providing the information ranchers need to make the decisions that impact the resiliency, profitability and resource management of their working lands. Learn more about Trust In Beef and their Sustainable Ranchers Tour by visiting www.trustinbeef.com

Your Next Read: Ranchers Make Tough Decisions to Weather Intense Southwest Drought

4 Ways to Boost Profitability Through Soil Health

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 13:25:46 GMT

In ranching, there are no easy buttons — certainly none exist to achieve overall profitability — but there may be one factor that can come close.

Adaptive grazing practices on ranch, which means using forage observations to determine the best time to move cattle, can be a key that unlocks higher productivity.

“Adaptive grazing to accomplish better grazing distribution across the ranch will almost always result in higher plant productivity, higher carrying capacity and higher profits,” says Josh Gaskamp, associate director of outreach and partnerships for Noble Research Institute.

Gaskamp has seen the practice in action on Noble’s ranches.

“On Noble’s ranches, bare ground averaged 13% in 2019 and is close to zero now,” he says. “We got 13% of a ranch for free, and now it is productive for our livestock.”

He adds: “It’s not always about finding the best forage, the best livestock or the best market; management for soil health does pay.”

Gaskamp says healthy soils can boost bottom-line productivity and profitability. He encourages producers to consider these tips and how some simple moves can translate to cost benefits on the ranch:

1. More Grass = More Cows + Less Feed Cost

Overgrazing, either through continuous grazing or not achieving full pasture recovery between grazing events, can limit a plant’s ability to grow.

“The ultimate result is less grass,” Gaskamp says. “When a rancher more closely follows the full potential of their forages’ growth across the growing season by implementing timely, intentional grazing, they not only put more of that grass in the cow, but they also grow more grass.”

It’s not hard to follow the direct line between more grass and more cows.

“Growing more grass means improving the carrying capacity of the ranch, and that means more money,” he says.

The significant savings, according to Gaskamp, comes in avoiding substitution feeding costs — feeding hay in times of the year when forage would normally be available. Improving your pastures’ ability to grow grass limits the amount of feed you purchase out of pocket.

2. More Ground = More Cows + Less Maintenance

Better-performing forage can be the key to gaining more “ground” on a ranch, but making the most of marginalized areas can boost productivity as well.

Certainly there are areas where cattle simply don’t want to be. Gaskamp says that adaptive grazing can be the investment those areas need to flip them to optimization.

“Underperforming areas of the ranch can often be improved by bringing livestock, nutrients, organic matter and proper recovery times to them,” he says.

Two ways to attract cattle to marginalized areas on ranch are:

Planting cover crops to graze
Bale grazing

“When followed by appropriate rest and recovery, these hotspots of organic matter and animal density are revitalized,” Gaskamp says.

“When energy is flowing through our soils through photosynthetic solar capture rather than coming out of them through overgrazing, soil is building and biological communities are thriving. It’s great that these impacts also come with greater forage production,” says Josh Gaskamp of the Noble Research Institute.

(Noble Research Institute)

3. More Diversity = More Cows + More Biodiversity

There are a variety of benefits to having diversity in forage.

“Diversity provides resilience to weather and climate extremes (with more days having living roots in the soil), and when cover crops are developed to complement available forages on the ranch, they drastically extend the number of grazing days,” Gaskamp says.

Many ranchers capitalize on diversity by implementing cover crops, especially in marginalized lands or in diversified operations. Pragmatically, cover crops can cover a lot of ground, including:

Keep supplementation costs down by extending grazing.
Break up compacted soil.
Finish livestock on high quality forages for human consumption.
Provide a supplemental forage that has good quality when other plans are dormant.
Provide habitat for wildlife.

4. More Investment = More Opportunity

While the goal is to use soil health as a profit-generating strategy in and of itself on-ranch, there are opportunities to cash in on healthy soils that can present additional opportunity to enhance the bottom line.

“There are a number of established ecosystem services and carbon markets that can help ranchers capture value from the improvements they make to the land under their management for soil health,” Gaskamp says. “These provide an opportunity for ranchers within the right context.”

These opportunities may not work for all, and Gaskamp recommends that you do your homework to find the right partner, but he considers them “icing on the cake” for the proper soil health investments.

Farm Journal’s Trust In Beef™ and Noble Research Institute partner to share information about how investing in your soil health can build profitability and legacy on your ranch. Visit www.TrustInBeef.com or www.Noble.org for additional resources or to tap into Noble’s education opportunities on this topic and others.

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How This Oregon Ranch is Using Their Cattle as Firefighters

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 16:30:59 GMT

Ranching in the Pacific Northwest means you get comfortable with extremes.

High elevations, severe winters, large allotments and mountainous, rocky surfaces intermixed with timber forests – all of it adds up to an ecosystem that can put up a fight to infrastructure-building for effective grazing management.

And that’s before you add in the wildfires.

In 2024, 1.9 million acres burned in the state of Oregon alone – the state where Dean Defrees manages his generational ranch.

Each fire season, Defrees watches the wildfires around him inch closer and closer, remembering the one year where they destroyed nearly everything.

“In the ‘80s, we were logging our timberland — about 1,100 acres,” he recalls. “In 1986, the part we had not harvested yet was burned in a forest fire and it wiped us out timber-wise. That really got us interested in fireproofing the rest of the property a bit more.”

Firefighting Cattle

Defrees put his cattle to work, factoring in his 1,500-acre timberland forest allotments into his whole-ranch rotational grazing plan.

Now he works to ensure that brush, which can act as kindling in a wildfire, is managed.

“I graze the timberland in June and have it pretty well grazed down by July, which gets rid of a lot of the fine material on the ground where the fire won’t spread nearly as bad if it comes,” he says. “In fires, you see a big difference in ground that has been grazed compared to ground that hasn’t been grazed.

“Sometimes, no matter what you do, you can’t stop it. But it certainly does help to get as much fuel off the ground as you can early in the season.”

Along with pastureland, Defrees Ranch uses their timberland as additional grazing land for their 300 heifer cattle and 300 yearlings. Predominately Angus, black Angus and Hereford breeds, the cattle help to keep brush down, decreasing the risk of wildfire damage to the ranch.

(Defrees Ranch)

Without a sawmill left in the region to market his timber, Defrees is using financial and technical incentives from USDA-NRCS to further manage his forests, keeping them suitable for grazing and manageable for fire prevention.

“With EQIP , I’m going through and removing pretty much everything under 9" in diameter, which allows the bigger trees to keep growing, but it also opens up the understory for grazing and makes it much more fire resistant,” he says.

The federally funded program is largely offsetting the costs for the work.

“I probably wouldn’t be able to do it without their help, at least to the scale I’m doing it. I’m not making any money off of it, but I am paying my expenses,” he explains.

Restoration Cattle

Defrees knows he won’t be able to keep the fires at bay forever from his 100-plus year family land. He’s seen his neighbors lose their land, their cattle and their livelihoods because of them. In 2024, the Durkee Fire nipped at his heels and became the largest active blaze in the country, devastating more than 268,500 acres of land in its path.

His daughter, Dallas Hall Defrees, now works with a non-profit organization, Sustainable Northwest , to help ranchers prepare for and battle back after these devastating wildfires.

She says the key to the ecosystem restoration needed in the wake of a fire is deploying cattle with effective grazing management practices.

“This is invasive annual grass country, so that’s one of our biggest threats out here, especially after these ranchland fires,” Hall Defrees says. “Studies have shown that through targeted grazing you can actually reduce the prevalence of those grasses. If you target those and then get off of that area when the perennial grasses are coming in and recovering, it can be really beneficial.”

But, letting cattle graze in areas burned by fires is tricky. In most instances, the fire has not only decimated the grassland, but it has stripped the allotment of reliable infrastructure as well. When wildfires spread, it can take with it miles of hardwire fencing, making grazing difficult.

Organizations like Sustainable Northwest are touting virtual fencing as a tool that ranchers in wildfire-prone areas can use to remove the need for fencing infrastructure and build back grasslands in the wake of disasters.

(Vence)

That’s where virtual fencing has become a game-changer, according to Hall Defrees.

“What you don’t want after a fire is for cattle to come into a heavily burned area or a stream or riparian area that needs a little bit more recovery,” she says. “Before, with hard wire fencing, you’re either on the allotment or you’re off of it. You can’t really cut the allotment into a whole bunch of different pieces. But now with virtual fencing, we can hit those areas that would actually benefit from the targeted grazing and exclude those areas that might need a little bit more rest.”

Vence , a virtual fence management system from Merck Animal Health , has seen their technology play an integral role for many ranchers both during and in the aftermath of disasters.

“We’ve had ranchers use Vence to protect their herds from hurricanes to wildfires to blizzards,” says Allison Burenheide, Vence marketing lead. “One of our Florida ranchers was able to move cows inland and away from highways as they saw a hurricane approaching, and we had a rancher in Washington last year experience a devastating wildfire, and we were able find all their cattle with the Vence GPS collars and move them down to where they could gather them and move them to safety. Without Vence, they would’ve had to ride through the fire to find cows, drop a fence and hope for the best.”

Sustainable Northwest is working with ranchers to remove cost barriers to virtual fencing technology and enhance technological awareness of the innovation’s benefits. She believes that, though fires may forge the need, many ranchers are reaping the full reward of adoption and then sharing it with their peers.

“There’s a snowball effect that’s certainly there,” she says.

A Marketable Advantage

At Defrees Ranch, the intensive land management is about more than just fire protection – it’s a holistic stewardship mindset that amounts to a marketable advantage for its cattle.

Defrees became part of the Country Natural Beef Cooperative early in its growth trajectory and has never regretted the decision.

“Through the cooperative, the tenants arose that we want to differentiate ourselves as good stewards who take care of the land, who take care of families, who take care of community, and take care of our cattle,” Defrees says. “The great thing about the group was everybody was so excited about those. The exciting thing is now we’re into the regenerative program, which really gives us a lot of tools to measure what we’re doing and make sure we’re doing the right things while giving us some latitude to experiment.”

The land that makes up Defrees Ranch in Oregon has been in the family for 100+ years. Dean Defrees is the fourth generation on the land and his sons and daughter are now part of the overall management of the ranch.

(Maddie Jo Neuschwander/Defrees Ranch )

At Country Natural Beef, their Grazewell program leans on regenerative ranching practices to help ranchers be better stewards of their people, land and animals.

“Good grazing practices and land stewardship are not just about managing cattle. They are about enhancing the health of the ecosystem itself,” says DelRae Ferguson, ranch program manager, Country Natural Beef. “This proactive approach sets our ranchers up to successfully navigate the certain challenges that are now the norm in the arid West — namely drought and wildfire— and our commitment to superior land stewardship moves all cooperative members beyond simply being reactive to environmental threats and establishes ecological and economic resiliency.”

Country Natural Beef uses the program to gain marketable advantage through their branded beef products.

“Increasingly, people are viewing their purchases, whether food, clothing or vehicles, not as status symbols but instead as a reflection of their core values,” says Valerie Rasmussen, Country Natural Beef vice president of marketing and communications. “For us, that movement started 40 years ago when we began our co-op and started selling all natural, no antibiotics/no added hormones and animal-welfare certified beef. Beef raised in a regenerative system is the next frontier for us as a beef company. We have plans to make regeneratively raised beef available to our shoppers so that consumers can be part of a food system that works to improve the planet we all share.”

Trust In Beef™ works to secure the future of American ranching by providing the information ranchers need to make the decisions that impact the resiliency, profitability and resource management of their working lands. Learn more about Trust In Beef and their Sustainable Ranchers Tour by visiting www.trustinbeef.com

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

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:25:09 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.

California Ranchers Facing $1.50/Acre Water Assessment

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 15:16:41 GMT

Environmental preservation continues to take precedence over agricultural sustainability in California. Water rights and assessments are issues California farmers and ranchers are being challenged with today.

Jack Lavers, a California rancher, explains through the years there has been a shift in water allocation since environmental concerns became a factor around the 1970s. He discussed the water issues, as well as other challenges facing California ranchers, on AgriTalk with Chip Flory.

Original state and federal water projects moved water from Northern to Southern California. These enabled agricultural expansion in the Central Valley and initially satisfied farmers and urban populations. According to Lavers, farmers only get 25% of the water today while environmental groups receive approximately half.

“They give half the water now to the environmental groups, and the other half is then split between the farms and the people — and that really becomes the issue,” he says. “Now we have this big push happening because they want to bring back fish to these rivers, and so we’re actually removing dams, and that is a very, very big issue.”

Removing the dams will eliminate irrigation.

“You’re going to see a lot of this ground that’s been irrigated for 100 years disappear — and have no value — so we can have some fish,” he explains.

New Assessment

Lavers says one of the new challenges facing agriculture today in California is a new Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) assessment.

“This is actually assessed on all rural ground — they call them the white areas,” Lavers explains. “This stems from the SGMA, which is the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, that our state passed, which is just insane in itself, but they assessed $1.50 per acre assessment on your ground.”

He says they have justified the assessment because, “these guys are pulling all this water out of the ground to farm.”

He adds, “They didn’t just do it on the farmers. They did it on livestock guys that are grazing ground. Well, that adds up really quickly. If you have a 2,000-acre ranch where you’re grazing your cattle now, you’re paying an extra $2,000 a year. Right now, that’s one of your steers is gone right there off the top, just to pay for an assessment that you don’t even use.”

Wildfires Affect Grazing Land

Lavers also discussed how wildfires continue to pose significant threats to California ranching. He says the Gifford fire is causing significant damage to ranchers, burning more than 122,000 acres and forcing some ranchers to lose everything.

As the cattle producers face reduced grazing lands due to the fires, he says progress has been made working with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management opening up grazing allotments that they have closed in the past. They are also working with California Department of Fish and Wildlife to allow grazing on ground it had purchased.

“We’re having a little bit of success with that, so we’re making progress,” he summarizes.

To learn more about the challenges facing California ranchers and farmers today, be sure to listen to the full conversation between Flory and Lavers. From devastating wildfires and water allocation issues to regulatory pressures and environmental constraints, the California agricultural community continues to demonstrate resilience and adaptability.

Land Values ‘Remarkably Stable’ Across the Country

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 11:10:46 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 15:11:37 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.

State-Sanctioned Trespass? Ranchers Defend Property and Water Rights

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 21:03:12 GMT

Non-navigable water on private land? No problem for public access. At least in the eyes of government.

Lucia Sanchez’s 80-acre ranch is crossed by a knee-high, non-navigable stream, and for decades, her family could preclude trespass up and down the flow. No more. The public has a right to Lucia Sanchez’s private property—so decrees the state.

“Property rights were once sacred here,” she says. “You always had to ask permission before you went on someone’s land. Now, the government has given people open-ended access to non-navigable streams. I have cattle all around the water and now I deal with the public coming at will and not knowing who they are. If I stop them, I could be the one prosecuted.”

Sanchez, along with other landowners, is fighting back with a lawsuit: “When property rights go,” she warns, “all your other rights eventually go with them.”

Private to Public
An absence of “common sense,” Sanchez contends, has forced her to court. “How many people across our country have non-navigable creeks, ditches, streams, or tributaries on their land? Should those be fully accessible to the public? Of course not.”

Fifth-generation producer Sanchez lives in northern New Mexico’s Rio Arriba County. Along with her brother, Michael, she runs cattle on 80 acres. The siblings work off-farm in public works and law enforcement. “We’re average people with one goal: protect our family legacy,” she says. “We rotate our livestock between here in New Mexico and another piece of family land in New Mexico just below the Colorado border, and like our family before us, we do whatever it takes to stay on the farm.”

“One lawsuit and I’m ruined,” says Lucia Sanchez. “One hothead to cut my fences and shoot my cows and I’m ruined. All these are possibilities in the real world—opposite of the government fantasy.”

(Photo by Michael Sanchez)

With national forest surrounding most of the property, Sanchez’s acreage is a scenic mix of flatland and woodland, split by the Rio Tusas Creek spanning the entire parcel. She has title to the Rio Tusas streambed on her ground.

In 2022, the public gained access to the creek—and by proxy her entire operation—in the name of recreation or fishing, backed by the New Mexico State Game Commission.

Sanctity of private property, Sanchez contends, is gone, replaced by trash and insecurity. “It’s a stream that’s so non-navigable that you can’t even float it. There’s no way to even access it without crossing my fence and my land to get to the water. Despite what the government claims, the public comes across my land to get to the water—and it’s all approved by the state.”

“I can’t even keep a fence up on the water now or I get prosecuted, but if my cattle get out, I’m liable. I want everyone to know: The government doesn’t pay or mitigate liability, but it’s turned my private property into a public park.”

Real World
In 2022, following a lawsuit headed by the Adobe Whitewater Club of New Mexico (along with NM Wildlife Federation and NM Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers) against the New Mexico State Game Commission (NMSGC), the New Mexico Supreme Court gave the public access to private, non-navigable streambeds.

(New Mexico Department of Game and Fish declined Farm Journal interview requests.)

“Where water was navigable, the public always had full rights to cross it or go down it,” says Jeremy Talcott, Sanchez’s attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF). “After 2022, the public could access non-navigable spots that were private. Many of these people don’t respect the land and now the landowners deal with people disputing the peace, enjoyment, productive use, or environmental quality of ranching and similar activities. Previously, the landowners could put up signs or wire mesh gates across to prevent trespass. Now they can’t.”

In June 2024, Michael Sanchez sued Raul Torrez, state attorney general; Richard Stump, NMSGC chair; and seven other NMSGC officials.

(Photo by Lucia Sanchez)

For decades prior to the court decision, state government officials supported private property owners. In 1991, NMSGC instructed the public to “obtain permission before fishing on private lands” and stated, “nothing in this proclamation will be construed to authorize entry into or onto any privately owned property, including stream beds, without the landowner’s permission.”
In 1998, NMSGC instructed the public to “obtain permission before entering into or onto private lands, including streambeds.”

In 2015, the New Mexico state legislature again backed private land rights, declaring: “no person engaged in hunting, fishing, trapping, camping, hiking, sightseeing, the operation of watercraft or any other recreational use shall walk or wade onto private property through non-navigable public water or access public water via private property…”

Further, NMSGC gave landowners declarative signs to post on private property recognizing “within the landowner’s private property is a segment of a non-navigable public water, whose riverbed or streambed or lakebed is closed to access without written permission from the landowner.”

The Sanchez family lives in northern New Mexico’s Rio Arriba County. They raise cattle and work off-farm in public works and law enforcement.

(Photo by PLF.)

That was then, this is now: Posting those same department-issued signs is a breach of the law. “Anyone and everyone suddenly can come onto privately owned, non-navigable streambeds,” Sanchez says. “You can be armed; you can be a thief; you can be on drugs. If the landowner confronts you, all you do is say, ‘I’m fishing.’”

“And who believes the public will stick strictly to the water? No, sometimes they cut across private acres or wander around,” Sanchez adds. “The landowner has everything to lose. One lawsuit and I’m ruined. One hothead to cut my fences and shoot my cows and I’m ruined. All these are possibilities in the real world—opposite of the government fantasy.”

Fifth Amendment
In June 2024, represented by PLF, Sanchez and her brother, Michael, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court and sued Raul Torrez, state attorney general; Richard Stump, NMSGC chair; and seven other NMSGC officials. Three landowners in San Miguel County who have acreage around the non-navigable Pecos River, also joined in the suit: Erik Briones, Richard Jenkins, and Roland Rivera.

“The U.S. Supreme Court repeatedly has held that when you change private into public, the Constitution says you must pay just compensation,” says PLF attorney Jeremy Talcott.

(Photo by PLF)

The lawsuit alleges violations of the Fifth Amendment’s taking clause, explains PLF attorney Talcott. “There are multiple branches of New Mexico government suddenly changing what has long been private into public. The U.S. Supreme Court repeatedly has held that when you change private into public, the Constitution says you must pay just compensation.”

However, Sanchez is not seeking compensation, Talcott adds. “We are seeking injunctive relief, where a court tells state agencies they can’t take these enforcement actions. Landowners must have the right to exclude.”

Long Battle
On Jan. 16, 2025, a federal judge dismissed Sanchez’s case, writing: “Absent constitutional amendment or the New Mexico Supreme Court reversing its position, landowners remain powerless to remove members of the public from their streambeds with or without executive enforcement, and therefore, their injury will remain.”

Siblings Lucia and Michael Sanchez. “When property rights go,” Lucia says, “all your other rights eventually go with them.”

(Photo by PLF)

The case likely will move to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Talcott says the issue could land before the U.S. Supreme Court. “These are the same issues we see in other cases whether there’s water or not. How far do public rights extend? The issues in Lucia Sanchez’s case speak to a lot of people. She’s not denying anyone in the public the right to recreate; she is preserving private property rights.”

Sanchez is ready for a long battle. “We’re already at threat to fires because the government refuses to thin the forest. Now, the water is a danger too because the state will penalize and prosecute us because we try to protect our land and herds from people sometimes cutting fences, dumping trash, and tearing up the terrain on UTVs and ATVs, all while they talk about nature and the environment.”

“The loss of private property rights can happen to anyone in this country,” Sanchez concludes. “Your rights are also under threat. I’m not afraid of this fight and to keep my mouth shut would be a travesty. I will not stay silent.”

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

One Company's Unique Way To Defer Capital Gains Tax

Mon, 13 Jan 2025 15:22:22 GMT

As many farmers know, there isn’t always a next generation to pass the farm down to.

Your kids may live out of state, happily pursuing careers as doctors, lawyers and professors. They have fond memories from their childhood on the farm fondly but won’t be taking over ownership, and you’re ready to slow down and retire. So, you collectively decide selling the farm is the best option for everyone.

The problem here is that in most cases, the sale will generate a significant amount of capital gains tax, which is where Farmers First Trust can help. The company’s principal, Mike Gustafson, recently joined the Top Producer podcast with Farm CPA Paul Neiffer to explain the process.

“What we tell the farm family is to go ahead and get a farm sale in place, but what you need to have in the purchase contract is an approval that a Section 453 transaction can be done at the request of the buyer and seller,” Gustafson says.

Here’s how Farmers First Trust uses the Section 453 tax code to defer capital gains tax on a farm sale:

The title of the sale goes directly from the seller to the buyer.
The funds of the sale go to Farmers First Trust.
The family takes out a loan with an investment bank, and a loan is initiated to them four to six days after closing for up to 99% of the net sale.
After a period of time chosen by the seller with the advice of their CPA (most commonly 30 years), the final 1% of the sale is released and then the capital gains tax will be due.

“In 30 years, $1 today at 3% inflation, is going to be worth about 44 cents,” Gustafson says. “They’ve had the opportunity to maybe double or triple that money over the course of those 30 years.”

Why Use This Method
If this seems complicated, you’d be right. Neiffer cautions this method isn’t right for every family, but it does have its advantages.

“This is something that you have to be in the right situation in order to take advantage of it,” Neiffer says. “It can be a little bit more difficult than a 1031 but again, a 1031 also has its drawbacks. You only have up to 45 days to identify, typically up to only three properties, and then you only have 135 days after that, or 180 days total, to actually close on that property. This allows you to defer that maybe three years down the road, and when you’ve identified property you can just go buy it with the cash that you got from this 453 transaction.”

Gustafson adds, “They can make their own decisions on what they do with the cash before they would make that purchase. That gives them a lot of flexibility, but also a lot of responsibility. So, it’s not for everybody, but in those cases where it does work for them, it’s extremely powerful.”

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

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 18:41:34 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

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 17:43:39 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