Pivotal Issues Blog

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 […]

By: Jodi Henke Help wildlife get through the fall and winter with a food plot. You can plant specific forages and vegetation for them, or you can make use of what’s already there on the farm at no or little cost. Adam Janke is an extension wildlife specialist at Iowa State University. He says weedy […]

By: Dave Mowitz Mark Baker and his wife, Kim, started farming with little to their names but never let that stop them from building an operation that today supports three families, including their two sons. “And the grandkids [stretching in age from 1 to 7] are already making plans to farm,” Baker says. “One of […]

By: Cary Estes The demand for productive agricultural land nationwide has accelerated at a pace not seen in years. As a result, real estate values for farmland, cropland, and pastureland increased over the last 12 months throughout much of the nation. Those are a few of the conclusions of a recently updated annual report from […]

By: Gil Gullickson Herbicides are having a hard time these days. Still, more effective ways to apply herbicides exist through precision spraying, says Nadav Bocher, CEO of the Israel-based Greeneye Technology. Greeneye Technology is using artificial intelligence to enable precision spraying technology that can not only distinguish between crops and weeds, but also classify weeds […]

By: Laurie Bedord Systems that monitor and remove heat, moisture, and odors or unhealthy air in livestock housing and replace them with cooler, fresh outside air are necessary for livestock productivity. Wisconsin farmer Andy Bensend believes the same is true for stored grain. “Most farmers understand what it means to have a million dollars’ worth […]

By: Jodi Henke Stiff joints and muscles are a common complaint from long hours sitting in the combine during harvest season. Exercise is probably the last thing you’re thinking about once you’ve parked the combine for the day, so the best pain prevention is to get up and move while you’re out in the field. […]