News, Insights & Interviews Archive

Sure, Lou Jewell could be sitting on a beach. Others his age, 77, may be doing that or wishing that they could. Jewell doesn't. He is in his fourth decade as a rural North Carolina land broker, and he is committed to helping others learn the land business.

Every farmer knows that most of the future value is the land, but more may be realizing that what is in the dirt may grow extra value. Section 180 in the federal tax code allows farmland owners to recognize residual soil fertility for a potential tax deduction.

Beekeepers have felt the sting of a substantial decline in colony numbers, but they aren't the only ones who can help solve the problem. The future of beekeeping, and domestic honey production, may depend in part on what happens on farms, along roadsides, on public lands, and anywhere else agriculture can find room for flowers and forage.

Alaska’s fishing industry may find new demand for an abundant fish that swims in obscurity for many consumers. For years, Alaska pollock has been hiding in fish sticks, fast-food sandwiches, and California rolls, often without consumers even knowing exactly what they were eating. Now, a very different force could help bring Alaska pollock into the spotlight: the growing popularity of GLP-1 medications.

For farmers and ranchers, deciding to sell a piece of land is much more than a business decision, especially if the land has been in the family for generations. This isn’t just selling a piece of property.

Hundreds of thousands of farmland acres could go out of production – at least temporarily -- because of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), Macotera Ag Group President & Founder Scott Bozzo believes.

Three decades offers more perspective than three years. Ten states provide more context than two. And volatility in one state’s agricultural priorities is not always the same as its bordering neighbor.

The sequel can sometimes be much different than the original. That could be the case with the proposed update of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA).

Commodity prices, interest rates, weather, tariffs, artificial intelligence, ethanol, or the next “must have” piece of machinery.

New analysis from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) raises questions about whether the USDA’s staffing changes will be able to meet the needs of local farmers.

Most farmers don't dream about testifying before Congress. They are usually thinking about weather forecasts, equipment repairs, markets, or whether they will get the crop in before the next rain. But sometimes, representing agriculture means trading muddy boots for a microphone in Washington, D.C.

Every now and then, something comes along that sounds like it belongs in a science fiction movie. It goes something like this: Hydrogen is trapped 8,000 feet beneath Iowa farmland. Private developers extract it. Landowners have a new source of income. Their neighbors have new protections. Eventually – maybe, just maybe – residents across the state could see lower income taxes. They might not pay income taxes at all.

If you want to make it rain, you should just pull the combine out of the shed. That’s the joke. The absence of rain…until it arrived much too late…has not been funny to farmers in the Southern Plains.

For almond growers, the last several years have been defined by difficult choices, tight margins, and a lot of uncertainty. But according to Carl Evers III, President of AgIS Capital Property Management and Director of Sustainability, the industry may finally be finding some balance.

A man in one country and a woman from another country who randomly met at a concert, dated long-distance, and started as farmers largely by persistence and the generosity of an older couple, hope that others can replicate their agricultural pathway to profitability. Although, they don’t expect others to follow their exact steps.

Water has always been life in agriculture. In Washington state, it’s also become a source of tension for some family farmers.

Mitchell Hora, an Iowa farmer and soil health consulting company owner, will soon have a decade of experience putting on his TopSoil Summit. The question is whether he will have a vital answer in time for the 300-500 farmers and investors from across the country who will show up.

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.