MANAGEMENT

Tax codes on equipment trades just got trickier.

Under old tax law, a farmer could trade in farm equipment and recognize no gain or loss on the trade. For example, assume a farmer has an old combine worth $200,000 and trades it in for a new combine worth $500,000. The $200,000 trade value is essentially ignored and the tax cost basis of the new combine is simply $300,000 (the net cash paid).

Feed is the most expensive and one of the most necessary products in a ranch budget, making it no surprise that ranchers love a good discount on hay. Hay producers, on the other hand, have to decide whether or not that discount is worth the risk to their businesses.

There is a lot of interest and energy being focused on cover crops and cover crop usage across the country. In fact, as I am writing this article, there is a “cover crop meeting” going on in our conference room.

We have suspected for a long time the average yield of alfalfa reported for U.S. farms is far less than what growers could produce. Is there a significant “yield gap” between these reports and reasonable yield goals?

Headlines highlighting global geopolitics are increasingly becoming a concern for ag operators, ag investors and the network of vendors who sell products and services in our industry.

The current hay-marketing year began with May 1, 2017, hay stocks down 3 percent from a strong 2016 level. Hay production in 2017 struggled with a number of challenges ranging from drought to wildfires to floods.