News, Insights & Interviews Archive

U.S. farm sector debt is expected to reach a record $605.1 billion in 2026, according to the latest USDA forecast. That represents a 4.5% increase in nominal dollars from 2025 and a 1.5% increase after adjusting for inflation.

As the remaining days wind down until the mid-term elections, America’s farmers and ranchers are thinking through another federal announcement about potential payments to help offset some of the financial strain that tariffs, two wars, and higher fuel costs have taken.

If your land feeds the world, you care about how prices impact your customers. And fuel prices can ripple much more than just the weekly vehicle fill up. When gas prices increase more than a $1 per gallon since January 2025, and diesel costs soared by nearly $2.50 per gallon over that period, it has an impact. Obviously.

The long-term impact of President Donald Trump’s global trade war on American farmland may be difficult to measure. Perhaps Americans end up with new deals that bring additional economic prosperity. Perhaps the chaotic nature of the policies hurt agricultural producers by reducing or eliminating previous export possibilities.

As farmers are busy in harvest season and voters prepare for November’s election, they see another number that makes their lives more expensive: 3.7%. The Consumer Price Index data released on October 15th showed that energy prices continued to fuel higher prices across the U.S. economy.

There has been no shortage of headlines about the struggles facing American farmers in recent years. Lower commodity prices, rising input costs, and U.S. trade tensions are just a few of the factors making it difficult for producers to turn a profit.

A Michigan judge ruled against a mother and son farm family fighting a solar company’s “Silver Maple Solar Farm.” At issue is 562 acres in Ottawa County, a fast-growing county of nearly 300,000 residents in West Michigan.

Foreign ownership of American farmland has become a political flashpoint. If you live in a competitive political district, you may have seen commercials about ownership by a foreign entity – most likely China – trying to buy a farm or ranch in your state.

Sometimes, a traditional approach won't work when it's time to sell the land, especially for a truly unique piece of property. Of course, every property is unique. But it's fair to say that some properties are especially unique, right?

Some communities are putting a temporary stop on data center development, in some cases to protect land from transitioning from agriculture to feeding the country's need for additional digital storage. Other communities are seeing their land prices soar as data center development projects push land values far beyond what buyers would pay for agricultural purposes.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins returned to Iowa ahead of the mid-term elections and said that she is monitoring whether President Donald Trump's decision to temporarily allow more imported beef from Brazil and Argentina will have its intended effect of providing a cheaper alternative for consumers.

State and federal executive orders designed to save some of the additional money farmers and landowners have been paying for fuel costs come with a reminder: you might owe later on this temporary price reduction.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives took a nearly seven-week break from session as Fall harvest approached. The break for the U.S. Senate looks to last about five weeks.

If you ask Lindsey Feuerborn what she does for a living, she’ll tell you she sells Nebraska farmland. But spend a few minutes talking with the Lashley Land and Recreational Brokers agent, and it’s clear there’s more to her work than selling land.

A cheese plant announcement in rural Missouri continues a year of expansion announcements for Schreiber Foods, which is based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The company’s primary focus in Carthage, Missouri, will be process cheese.

Knowing your neighbors helps, but knowing your neighbors’ data may help even more. Today, some of the most important forces affecting land values may have little to do with farming.

Cattle ranchers have found bipartisan allies in Washington, D.C., who have joined their efforts to halt President Donald Trump's initiative to increase ground beef imports from Argentina and Brazil.

People around the country may not immediately recall Dan Pedersen's name, but many may remember his situation. Pedersen operates a 10,000-acre farm and feedlot with 12,000 cattle in Underwood, Iowa.

Rounding up and deporting "the worst of the worst" criminals was not going to impact the economic vitality and labor support for ranching and farming operations. But agricultural advocate organizations warn that U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in several key cattle ranching states could cause significant problems for staffing that relies on legal, temporary workers.

A two-state, 1,477.5-acre farm sale just closed for $22.45 million, and it wasn't luck. Geswein Farm & Land Realty's Johnny Klemme explains how branding an Illinois-Indiana portfolio as one regional event, pairing a hybrid live/online auction, and spotlighting decades of tenant stewardship drove nearly 800 bids and turned a multi-generational family farm into the sale everyone was watching.

Illinois farmland just hit $25,700 an acre. In Douglas County, all three tracts of the 114.77-acre Winslow Farm sold at that identical price via a Choice & Privilege auction, while a 172.48-acre Jones County, Iowa trust farm with a 93.1 CSR2 rating and a 325.78-acre, five-tract Minnesota sale rounded out a strong week for Midwest land values.