Section
Land, labor, records, succession, making it pay.
11 stories
At $400 for a 500-pound calf and $330 for a 700-pounder, every pound you add after weaning is worth something, but the price slide takes a bite out of it. How to figure the value of gain from the sale barn report, what it costs to put a pound on, and when the answer is sell now.
4d ago
Cash-basis farm accounting gives you more control over your tax bill than almost any other business, but only if you know where you stand before the year ends. What to have in front of your accountant by Thanksgiving, the prepaid-expense rule, income averaging, and what to do with a good year.
Oct 13
Corn is back near $5, inputs are not coming down, and the state surveys say rents barely moved. Landlords have heard about the rally; tenants have the cost sheet. How to walk into the meeting with a number, what a flex lease does for both sides, and the termination deadlines that already passed.
Oct 9
At $400 a hundredweight, a $10 difference in how you market is $55 a head. What each channel pays, what it costs, and who it fits. Plus the three things buyers pay premiums for no matter where you sell.
Sep 25
Fewer farms than ever will owe federal estate tax. Most farms still fail the transition anyway, for reasons that have nothing to do with tax. The first four steps, and the conversation most families put off until it is too late.
Sep 20
Livestock Risk Protection puts a floor under the price you get for calves, subsidized 35 to 55 percent by USDA. With the market at records and tariff headlines in the news, this is what the coverage actually does and what it costs.
Sep 12
USDA wants the herd rebuilt. The market is paying you not to. A worked example of what a retained heifer has to be worth in 2028 to beat selling her in October 2026, and the three things that decide it.
Sep 9
The Labor Department scrapped the USDA Farm Labor Survey basis and moved to OEWS data with two skill levels and a housing adjustment. Rates in 2026 run roughly $8 to $17 an hour depending on state and job, down from $15 to $20. What it means if you use the program or compete with it.
Sep 7
With nitrogen forecast to hold at $750 to $800 a ton through fall and corn back near $5, the fall-versus-spring decision is closer than it has been in years. The agronomy has not changed; the economics have.
Sep 6
The Chicago Fed's second-quarter survey shows land holding its nominal value while the real decline is the largest since 2016. Repayment problems are at their highest since 2020. Iowa and Illinois are up; Indiana and Wisconsin are down.
Sep 6
The $16 billion Supplemental Disaster Relief Program has been extended one last time. Payment factor is now 70 percent. If you had a 2023 or 2024 weather loss, indemnified or not, the FSA office needs your paperwork this month.
Sep 2