When it comes to a college education, few fields can equal the benefits of an agriculture degree. Not only can it prepare future farmers, but it can also lead to a wide range of opportunities, including business, forestry, manufacturing, sales and many others. But financing a college education can be a challenge. Tight budgets have [...]

I had the great honor this week of serving as keynote speaker for a prestigious gathering of farmland owners, academics, policymakers and other leaders at an agriculture conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Naturally, there has been a lot of debate recently over whether farmland prices have reached unsustainable levels, and there [...]

One of the greatest benefits of farmland ownership is land’s stability over the long term. We’re really seeing that now, as the crops are in and land sales begin to pick up. After the worst drought of our lifetime, it would stand to reason that land prices might weaken. After all, that’s what we see [...]

I found myself bursting with pride recently when a young man named Colin Hurd was featured  in the Iowa State Daily for his work in developing a solution to a challenge that farmers face constantly: How to minimize soil compaction. Colin, a senior in agricultural studies at Iowa State University, is winner of the 2012 [...]

All farmers understand supply and demand. A drought reduces the supply of corn, for example, and prices go up. It’s natural, because we sell our farm products every year, in all kinds of markets. Commodity markets create the competition that establishes a fair market value. The average farmer sells land far less often, and it’s [...]

One of the greatest pleasures in my life is being able to provide scholarships to young people pursuing agriculture and agribusiness related degrees. I’m particularly pleased that 11 young people are enrolled in 10 different colleges, aided by scholarships from our foundation. These are the recipients, each of whom rose to the top of the [...]

A lot of folks are starting to ask me how the current drought — the worst since 1988 — will affect farmland prices. Will it entice more people to sell? Will cash rent prices drop? I can’t really answer either of those questions in a meaningful way except to remind people that the drought is [...]

When it came to financial experts, they didn’t get any bigger — or any smarter — than Barton Biggs, who died July 14 at the age of 79. I rarely speak without quoting his 1988 advice: “Buy a farm and get rich slowly.” He’s quoted repeatedly in my 1993 book, Farmland Investment Strategy. Biggs wasn’t [...]

It wasn’t so long ago that we were all feeling downright euphoric about the 2012 crop season. A mild winter had ended early, enabling many farmers to get their crops in the ground early. Worldwide demand was (and still is) continuing to grow, and everything pointed to a year to remember. Unfortunately, it seems to [...]