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News, Insights & Interviews Archive
Costs, Land, and Productivity Shape U.S.–Brazil Soybean Competition
Purdue study finds U.S. soybean farmers face higher costs, limited land, and competition from Brazil, highlighting need for yield gains and diversification.
David Geiger
Mar 203 min read
Farmland Values Hold Firm Despite Weaker Farm Finances, Fed Surveys Show
Several recent regional reports reflect the continued strength of farmland. But they also show some sectors that face mounting financial pressures, while others show increased opportunities. American Farmland Owner prioritizes the importance of reporting in-depth research on factors that impact farmland values for current owners, investors, and people who are considering entering this agricultural space. Steady Farmland Values in the Midwest and Plains Farmland values acro
Brooke Bouma Kohlsdorf
Mar 203 min read
This Entrepreneur Focuses on Opportunity and Not Heated Immigration Debate
With the United States in the middle of a fierce debate on which immigrants should be allowed to legally remain and work in the United States, people like Sharon Krause is focused on opportunities for those committed to making a living on the farm. Should all people who entered the country illegally be forced to leave? Should only those who have violent criminal records be removed? Should everyone who overstayed a temporary visa get deported? Those questions and others have d
Dave Price
Mar 204 min read
Joshua Manske: Back to the Farm after Pro Golf Career
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.
Dave Price
Mar 204 min read
Farmers, Commodities, and Consumers Impacted by the Fertilizer Crisis
Rising fertilizer prices are emerging as one of the most immediate agricultural consequences of the escalating U.S. and Israel war with Iran, creating uncertainty for farmers preparing for the spring planting season. Analysts warn that the conflict’s disruption of global fertilizer supplies could affect crop decisions, farm profitability, and ultimately food prices for consumers. It is one more political dynamic that farmers will watch as they are already waiting to see if Pr
Brooke Bouma Kohlsdorf
Mar 133 min read
U.S. Farm Loss Continues, Though Causes Differ by State
American farmers are growing larger crops on fewer farms. While that long-term trend is clear nationwide, the factors driving farm losses vary widely by state. And there are still a couple years until the U.S. Department of Agriculture releases its next Census of Agriculture. Danny Munch, an American Farm Bureau economist, said this shows a couple trending factors. “The long-term decline in farm numbers alongside a decline in farmland shows consolidation, productivity gains,
David Geiger
Mar 133 min read
States Consider Moratorium on Data Centers
How widespread is the opposition from people who don’t want farmland converted to data centers, are concerned about the water use from those facilities, oppose taxpayer subsidies for data centers, or a combination of those three complaints? It is so much so that nearly one in four states have considered moratorium legislation on new data centers, according to Good Jobs First , a nonprofit organization that tracks government subsidies, actions that it considers corporate misco
Dave Price
Mar 132 min read
Renewable Energy Leader Jeff Risely: Finding Compromise with Farmers and Neighbors
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
Dave Price
Mar 134 min read
Kristi Noem Out as Key Deportation Leader of Trump Administration
Regardless of whether you believe that she was fired or transferred to another position, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is leaving her job, a change announced by President Donald Trump on social media Thursday. Although, President Trump announced the change after Noem’s performance this week at two congressional hearings where she faced questions about a $220 million ad campaign (funded by taxpayers) that prominently featured her (that she claimed President
Dave Price
Mar 63 min read
Pushing Back at Data Centers While America Seeks More Power
In the years ahead, America will need far more power generated than we currently produce. Our ever-increasing hunger for technology – and the power that it takes to operate that technology – demand it. Wind, solar, natural gas, coal and nuclear could be all among the options to produce some of that additional capacity. Data centers could be an integral part of the nation’s economy for the infrastructure to provide the storage, processing, internet, and distribution system to
Dave Price
Mar 63 min read
Trying to Make Sense of Changing Tariff Policies
You may think better trade deals are the answer, or you may believe that American presidents abandoned the concept of much higher tariffs decades ago because of the harm they can cause our country’s families. Either way, you know that the past year has been volatile and unpredictable. American agricultural producers now wait, most likely with little optimism, that the court system could deliver them refunds on the higher prices they paid because of President Donald Trump’s hi
Dave Price
Mar 64 min read
Ethan Branscum: 721 Exchanges Could Keep Farms in the Family
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
Dave Price
Mar 63 min read
Notable Midwest Sales Reach $28,000 per Acre - February 27, 2026
159.92+/- acres in Taney County, Missouri 16 tracts – Sold Absolute February 11, 2026 A diverse multi-tract development offering totaling 159.92± acres sold at live and online auction on February 11, 2026. The property was divided into 16 individual tracts strategically located in high-traffic areas of Branson, less than one mile from the Highway 76 strip. The tracts ranged from small commercial and residential lots under one acre to larger development parcels exceeding 40 ac
American Farmland Owner
Feb 272 min read
Contiguous Illinois Farm Brings Strong Sales Price
Photo Courtesy of Farmers National A 430-acre farm, located about 15 miles northeast of Springfield, Illinois, sold in a private transaction on January 29th for $7,224,672. While the $16,800 per-acre figure was considered strong for the area, the agent who handled the sale says the defining factor behind the competitive price was not just yield history or infrastructure — it was contiguity. “All 430 acres are in one contiguous tract,” said Max Hendrickson of Farmers National
Brooke Bouma Kohlsdorf
Feb 273 min read
Failed Promises on E15 Expansion
Missed deadline led to another missed deadline, which is only fueling frustration from agricultural industry groups and farmers who keep waiting for the Trump administration and Congress to approve year-round sales of E15 fuel nationwide. Previously, both the Trump and the Biden administration have approved temporary E15 sales through the summer, bypassing decades-long restrictions that claimed smog concerns from the use of higher ethanol fuel over the summer months. But the
Dave Price
Feb 272 min read
The Future of Glyphosate, Bayer Offers $7.25 Billion Settlement
President Donald Trump is trying to protect glyphosate, one of the most widely used and effective herbicides. Meanwhile, Bayer is trying to protect its business interests by offering billions of dollars to settle a class action lawsuit that claims that Roundup is making people seriously ill. President Trump’s executive order invoked the Defense Production Act to ensure continued U.S. production of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides, arguing that both are es
Dave Price
Feb 272 min read
Guiding The Farmer Who Turned Down $15 Million for a Data Center
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.
Dave Price
Feb 274 min read
U.S. Trade Deficit Grows, Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump Tariffs
Imports are up, exports are down, and American farmers, consumers, and companies are picking up the greatest share of the financial burden from President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. Can future trade deals and a stabilizing of the global market change those trends later in 2026? The U.S. trade deficit grew sharply in December, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. The year finished roughly where it was compared to the previous year, despite the president’s frequently
Dave Price
Feb 203 min read
Feds: Here’s How a $200 Million Cattle Scam Happened
At a time when cattle ranchers are deciding whether to replenish herds and wondering how additional beef imports from Argentina will impact the market, they are reading headlines about what investigators say has been massive fraud by a company based in Fort Worth, Texas, that collected more than $220 million. The new development is the latest in a series since 2023 that alleged improprieties by Agridime LLC. This Fort Worth Star-Telegram article has more on the background
Dave Price
Feb 203 min read
Chicago Fed Report: Midwest Farmland Values Rising
Agricultural land values in the Midwest increased in 2025, reversing a modest decline the previous year, according to the latest from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s AgLetter. The quarterly publication, written by economists with the Chicago Fed, analyzes agricultural land values and credit conditions across the bank’s Seventh District, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The findings are based on responses from agricultural bankers who co
Brooke Bouma Kohlsdorf
Feb 202 min read
Longtime Midwest Land Broker Dennis Reyman: Farmers Still Most of Land Buyers
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
Dave Price
Feb 204 min read
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