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Vermont cows now
an electricity source
Manure from cows at Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport, VT, is being
used to produce electricity. Methane from heated manure is the
energy-producer that provides Central Vermont Public Service Corp., the largest
utility in Vermont, power to produce the electricity.
The 1,500 dairy cows on the
farm are expected to produce enough electricity to power about 330
homes. About 1,000 electricity customers have agreed to pay four cents more per
kilowatt hour to support the farm, which is expecting to recoup some of
its $70,000-per-year electric bill.
Source: AFBF; Executive
Newswatch; Jan. 19, 2005
1031 tax exchange
lights land value fires
A host of factors came together in 2004 to drive farmland and ranchland values higher at breathtaking rates. But the one that added special fuel to fire is the IRS-approved 1031 tax exchange.
This special tax provision allows landowners to sell property and then buy "like-kind" property and postpone capital gains taxes.
Basically, "like-kind" means "dirt for dirt," as LandOwner tax consultant Chris Hesse, LeMaster & Daniels, Moses Lake, Wash., likes to remind us.
Impact? Sell an apartment building and the half acre of land on which it sits and exchange for 300 acres of Grundy County, Iowa, farmland. That postpones capital gains taxes because it's "dirt for dirt." Or, sell your grandfather's 60 acres on the edge of Aurora, Ill., and buy a half section near Decatur.
There's a hitch. Within 45 days of your sale you must identify three alternative properties for exchange. Because of this rule, cash-flush buyers suddenly become desperate bidders as that 45-day window nears closing.
Will 1031 money continue to chase farmland in 2005? Sources tell us a few of their 1031 clients recently plowed money into California investment property, thinking farmland prices are too rich. If that trend grows, some of the cream could come off the land market.
Source: LandOwner; Vol. 26,
Issue 1; Jan. 6, 2005
Chinese eliminate
tax on agriculture
The Chinese government has eliminated a 50-year-old tax on agriculture in an attempt to encourage farmers to stay in farming instead of migrating to cities looking for industrial jobs.
Chinese officials estimate that eliminating the tax will boost farmers' disposable incomes by about 20 percent. About 800 million people out of China's 1.3 billion population (62 percent) are farmers. Less than 1 percent of the U.S. population are farmers.
Source: Doane's Agricultural Report;
Vol. 68, No. 3-1; Jan. 21, 2005
New Mexico ethanol
plant to double in size
Abengoa Bioenergy Corporation has begun a 15 million gallon per year expansion to its ethanol plan in Portales, NM, according to The Renewable Fuels Association.
Financing for the expansion is being provided through Industrial Revenue Bonds approved and issued by the city of Portales, and when completed, the plant will process over 11 million bushels of grain sorghum into 30 million gallons of ethanol and approximately 90,000 tons of distillers grains annually.
Currently, 81 ethanol plants nationwide have the capacity to produce nearly 3.6 billion gallons annually, RFA said. There are 16 ethanol plants and two major expansions under construction in the U.S. with a combined annual capacity of over 750 million gallons.
Source: DTN Ag News,
Briefly; Jan. 5, 2005
Biopharming could
be next big business
Growing drugs inside plants—instead of making them in factories—could soon be big business, with the U.S. market alone potentially worth $2.2 billion by 2011, according to a recently released report. The first commercially available drugs made this way could be available around 2006, according to consultancy firm
Frost & Sullivan.
But so-called "biopharming" faces significant challenges—not least overcoming residual public fears that new crops engineered to make medicines could get into the food supply.
Source: Doane's Agricultural Report; Vol. 68, No. 3-1; Jan. 21, 2005
Historic Pennsylvania
land prices out of sight
The going rate for farmland in historic Lancaster County, PA, is $6,000 to $16,000 per acre, says R. Scott Smith, Jr., president and chief financial officer of Fulton Financial Corp., Lancaster, PA.
The pressure from urban sprawl and the push by homeowners for a place in the country is driving prices higher, he says.
"The only people buying farmland to farm are the Amish and Mennonites," he says.
They buy for a host of cultural, family and religious reasons.
Source: LandOwner; Vol. 26, Issue 1;
Jan. 6, 2005
For medical and moving expenses, the 2005 rate is 15 cents a mile, up from 14 cents in 2004. The rate for charitable driving will remain at 14 cents a mile. The primary reasons for the increase were higher prices for vehicles and fuel during the year ending September 2004. (The charitable standard mileage rate is set by law.)
The Northwest Pilot Project hopes to find workable and cost-effective tracking systems using traditional brands, ear tags, radio frequency ID tags, and computer bar coding.
Source: Doane's Agricultural Report; Vol. 68, No. 3-1; Jan. 21, 2005
