News, Insights & Interviews Archive

Farmland investing has been increasingly appealing to some people as an inflation hedge. But some potential investors have stayed away because they don’t want their money tied up for too long.

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube No doubt that some farmers are feeling serious financial pressure now. But much of the overall agricultural sector can handle this if some of that pressure is not long-lasting, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Senior Vice President Nate Kauffman believes. Kaufmann, who has worked for the Kansas City Fed for more than 14 years, is also the Center for Agriculture and the Economy Executive Director. His role demands a

The rapid rise of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs is reshaping how Americans eat. And that shift is beginning to slice through one of the country’s most iconic crops: potatoes. For growers, particularly in states like Idaho, Washington, Wisconsin, and Colorado, the health phenomenon could lead to piles of potatoes unless the potato industry can overcome this latest challenge.

Listen and subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts The Global AgInvesting World Summit in New York City has long been a bellwether event for institutional capital flowing into agriculture. This year, the gathering of 700 people from across the globe will see a change in focus to reflect issues that will shape the agricultural landscape for years to come. “For ’26, there were things that were a lot different than ’25,” said Global AgInvesting World Summit Conference P

Listen and subscribe to our weekly podcast on Spotify | Apple Podcasts The challenges facing rural America aren’t hard to find. Walk into any grocery store, talk to a cattle producer, or drive through a small town that’s lost a major employer, and the pressure points become obvious. But according to Small Business Administration Regional Director Brad Zaun, there’s a coordinated effort underway to change that trajectory—starting with access to capital and a renewed focus on c

The years-long increase in farmland values may finally fall victim to financial pressure’s gravity after previously showing remarkable resilience despite inflation, supply chain strains, input cost increases, and declining farmer incomes. That is the feeling from Curt Covington, Senior Director of Institution Credit at AgAmerica Lending.

Mark Mueller is a fourth-generation farmer from northeast Iowa who has grown corn for three decades and serves in a statewide role with a national voice. Those credentials are likely the reason that he received a V.I.P. invite to an event at the White House.

Brian Reisinger has worked for a governor who ran for president, a U.S. Senator who ran for president, and another U.S. Senator who thought about running for president. These days, Reisinger has put politics aside as he has focused full-time on agriculture, his business, and his young family.

The family farm required the same characteristic that helped Joshua Manske thrive on the golf course: patience. Agriculture was never really something Manske left behind. But it was something that patiently waited for him to return.

As renewable energy projects expand across rural America, many landowners are weighing the benefits of wind and solar leases against concerns from neighbors and local officials. For farmers looking for financial stability in a volatile agricultural economy, the conversation increasingly centers on how to find reasonable compromises that allow development while addressing community concerns. That balancing act is at the heart of the work being done by the Renewable Energy Farm

Listen and subscribe on Spotify | Apple Podcasts The farmland may be paid off and generating income. But looming capital gains taxes can make a straight sale financially painful. Or maybe an heir isn’t so sure that owning a farm is really what he wants to do in the years ahead. That is where a 721 exchange could be an option. “We're one of the few firms that have ever done it or tried it in the farmland space,” said Ethan Branscum, Director of Investments at Sower Farmland, w

When an 86-year-old farmer along the Route 81 corridor in central Pennsylvania was offered roughly $60,000 an acre for his land, the math was staggering. At 261 acres, the total approached $15 million.

Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts Farms are getting bigger, and there are fewer farms each year. Those changes have taken place over a number of years. But Dennis Reyman, Partner at Stalcup Agricultural Services in Storm Lake, Iowa, said one factor remains constant in a constantly changing agricultural industry: farmers are still doing most of the farm buying. “…as far as land ownership, the trends are kind of the same as they usually are,” Reyman told American Farmland Ow

For rural landowners, renewable energy remains one of the most talked-about — and misunderstood — developments shaping the countryside. Waylon Brown, Regional Policy Manager for Clean Grid, sees both the promise and the growing pains facing wind, solar, and battery storage across the Midwest.

No growth provides no future. Negative growth brings even more problems. But too much growth could bring issues, too. That is how Wyoming State Representative Jacob Wassenburger, R - Cheyenne, sees it.

Technology has consistently influenced farming, from the steel plow to GPS tractors. But as global pressures around food security, energy, and water intensify, the next wave of innovation may not just improve yields; it could redefine where and how food is grown.

The question of whether institutional investors are good for agriculture is not new. It has surfaced repeatedly over the last half-century, often during periods of economic stress or structural change in farming. These days with some farmers burdened by the higher cost of operating and borrowing combined with the lower return for commodities, they may question how they can keep going forward.

Sharon Krause believes that the future of agriculture is close to home. “From an environmental perspective, the more food that we can grow closer to home, the more we reduce our costs between transportation and storage,” Krause told American Farmland Owner.

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcast For many farm owners today, the question isn’t whether change is coming; it’s how to respond to it without jeopardizing everything they have built. Commodity markets remain volatile, input costs stay stubbornly high, and consolidation continues to squeeze margins. Virginia farmer, author, and outspoken agricultural thinker Joel Salatin offers a significantly different perspective for thinking about growth, resilience, and transition. Joel S

For much of the last decade, the national conversation about the U.S. economy has revolved around inflation, interest rates, and inequality. But according to veteran economist Ed “Dr. Ed” Yardeni, one of the most powerful forces shaping the current and future economy is far less discussed: America’s aging population. Yardeni -- noted national analyst on CNBC, Bloomberg Television, Fox Business, the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere -- is the President of Yardeni Research and