Pivotal Issues Blog

By: Lisa Foust Prater There was a time when the notion of getting married in a barn seemed like a crazy idea, but now barns and farms are the second-most popular wedding venue, according to a poll by wedding planning website The Knot. Farmers and other landowners have caught on to the trend, and barn […]

By: Mark McLaughlin Our advisers recommended that we gift 40% of our land to our kids to reduce potential estate losses upon death. One son farms, and the other three have off-farm jobs. We have appraisals and plan to use some of our lifetime credit through the Form 709 gift tax return. What else should […]

By: Laurie Bedord Over the years, a farmer’s reliance on herbicides to combat weeds has increased greatly. From 2012 to 2016, about 281 million pounds of glyphosate, an active ingredient in most herbicides, were applied to 298 million acres annually in the United States, according to the EPA. Issues such as potential bans on herbicides […]

By: Jodi Henke After harvest is done, it’s time to gather and organize all the paperwork that goes with it. And hopefully you have all of it in one place. Peggy Meyer of Superior, Nebraska is a wife, the mother of six kids, and has been taking care of the books on the family farm […]

By: Jodi Henke Farmers are always looking for ways to keep more money in their pocket at tax time. The Research and Development tax credit is a little-known tool that could help you do just that. It rewards businesses for innovation that is only required to be new to them, not new to the world. […]

By: Jessie Scott To most effectively market your grain, you may need to store it into summer and possibly into the next year. To do so, you’re going to need to store it properly. If you don’t and it goes out of condition, you may have to market corn before you’re ready, warns Gary Woodruff, […]

By: Jolene Brown After 40-plus years of marriage, my divorce is final. As part of the settlement, I own half of the farm. Yes, I earned it. We started this farm together and operated as sole proprietors, borrowing money for operations and to purchase land. We kept our family living expenses to a minimum and […]

By: Jodi Henke People own forested land for many reasons, including income from the wood, recreational purposes, and aesthetics. You can’t afford to ignore the value of this asset, so a well-prepared forest management plan will help you meet your goals now and into the future. Earl Garber is a past president of the National […]

By: Myron Friesen About 15 years ago, we went to an estate planning meeting with a life insurance company. We were concerned about estate taxes, so we thought we had to do something. We started an irrevocable trust with life insurance, thinking the proceeds would be used to pay estate taxes. Now we realize that […]

By: Jodi Henke he competition for rental acreage is increasing. Established farmers want access to more land so they can expand their operation. Or, maybe someone just beginning their farming career needs rental land to get their business started. In both cases even though you’ll pay rent, you’re basically asking someone to hire you to […]