Pivotal Issues Blog

By: Alex Gray Yarbo, a company developing multi-purpose, autonomous yard cleaning robots, has announced the launch of the Yarbo Snow Blower S1. Yarbo started development of the autonomous snow blower in 2017 and went through five years of development ahead of the launch of the beta version in 2022. Following the beta, Yarbo raised $3.45 […]

By: Karen Jones & Dave Mowitz Planter maintenance is one of the most important things you can do to set your crops up for success. Variations in ideal spacing and depth can cause a corn yield loss anywhere from 7-25 bushels an acre, according to an AGCO study. Spending time servicing your planter during the […]

By: Megan Schilling Since inheriting their northeast Iowa family farm in 2009, Carol Bouska, Peg Bouska, Ann Novak, and Sally McCoy have forged a future for the land and the next generations by establishing a strong vision and defined goals. While none of them live on Highland Farm today, it is the family’s heart and […]

By: Mark McLaughlin Problem: Our off-farm children want to inherit land and rent it to our farming son; do we really need farm succession planning? Our son farms with us and has grown our operation. Our other three children say they will keep their share of the land and just rent it back to him. […]

By: Myron Friesen PROBLEM In our current plan, we give our farming child an option to buy out their three siblings for 80% of fair market value on a contract. Our 800 acres were worth about $8,000 an acre when we did that, and now they are $15,000 per acre. The terms of the contract […]

By: Laurie Bedord From an early age, Grant Hilbert was determined to one day become a farmer. He also thought it would take decades to raise the capital necessary to realize that dream. Playing video games on YouTube would help the Iowa native achieve that goal much sooner than he anticipated. “Today, the cost to […]

By: Mark McLaughlin My parents are in their 70s and own 1,200 acres. I have two off-farm siblings. Every time I talk about farm succession, Mom says, “I’m sure everyone will just get along.” Dad jokes, “Just let ’em fight it out!” Dad suffered a heart attack last spring, and we’re not laughing anymore. Our […]

By: Myron Friesen My parents, especially my dad, always tell me that their plan will “take care of me,” but I have no idea what they mean by that. Unfortunately, in the past I have had other people say, “Trust me,” and then they did not keep their word and it cost me. The stakes […]

By: Successful Farming Staff The land market momentum that began in late 2021 accelerated into 2022 and was driven by competition for high quality cropland, resulting in record sales and overall increases in land values across the country, according to Farmers National Company. In most cases, landowners selling property experienced values never-before-seen for their farmland. […]

By: Laurie Bedord Established in 1908, Granstrom Farms was originally a conventional row crop and cow- calf operation. However, the Granstroms have always tended to swim upstream. The Nebraska family’s latest move is a shift to raising only organically certified crops and experimenting with autonomous machinery. “One of my and my dad’s character flaws is […]