Pivotal Issues Blog

By: Jodi Henke After harvest is done, it’s time to gather and organize all the paperwork that goes with it. And hopefully you have all of it in one place. Peggy Meyer of Superior, Nebraska is a wife, the mother of six kids, and has been taking care of the books on the family farm […]

By: Jodi Henke Farmers are always looking for ways to keep more money in their pocket at tax time. The Research and Development tax credit is a little-known tool that could help you do just that. It rewards businesses for innovation that is only required to be new to them, not new to the world. […]

By: Jessie Scott To most effectively market your grain, you may need to store it into summer and possibly into the next year. To do so, you’re going to need to store it properly. If you don’t and it goes out of condition, you may have to market corn before you’re ready, warns Gary Woodruff, […]

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 […]