calculating taxes

Farmers’ sons have no interest in taking over family farm

Farm Financial Planner: A tax-light liquidation of a farm calls for some planning well in advance

Jack and Mary need to retire, but a sale of their farm will the only way to get there because their grown children have no interest in farming. A tax-light liquidation of a farm, though, will take some planning well in advance.

Prairie farmland rentals rates difficult to track

Prairie farmland rentals rates difficult to track

Rental rates could be important in 2025 as grain producers deal with lower grain prices and relatively high input costs

In Red Deer County in central Alberta, a survey found cropland leasing rates were around $75 per acre. Renting that same land could be 40-50 per cent more expensive in 2025 — but it’s difficult to even make a guess because land rents are considered a “dark market.”



Topsoil being removed from a depression area in a soil landscape restoration site in southern Manitoba.

Restore productivity on your eroded knolls

Landscape restoration, cover cropping, residue redistribution and adjusting crop inputs are some management practices that can help

The eroded knolls or hilltops common in Prairie farmland are typically the least productive, often yielding considerably less than other parts of a field. Curtis Cavers, an agronomist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada based at Portage la Prairie, Man., says there are ways to boost crop productivity in these problem areas. Cavers provided an assessment […] Read more


It’s not unreasonable for parents who’ve spent decades building an operation to hope that a successor is committed for the long haul.

How to talk about ‘fair family price’ for land, other assets

Seeds of Encouragement: A family farm transfer likely involves some gifting, given the market values for farmland

Elaine writes: “Fair family price” versus “fair market value price” (or FFP vs. FMV) is often a tense conversation between a farm’s founders, needing to sell assets for their personal income stream, and a buyer, often the cash-strapped successor on the farm. To offer readers some wisdom on this conversation I asked our coaching teammate […] Read more

Real estate apps are already big business in residential markets. If they cut transaction costs, why not in agriculture too?
 Photo: Getty Images

U.S. Lawmakers seek to limit corporate, foreign ownership of farmland

Farm groups, lawmakers are concerned that foreign, investor ownership is driving up prices and threatening national security

Washington | Reuters – U.S. lawmakers from both parties are pushing legislation that would limit who can own American farmland, with a latest effort from Democratic Senator Cory Booker aimed at curbing corporate ownership. Farm groups and lawmakers are concerned that land buys by investors and foreign countries are driving up farmland prices and threatening […] Read more


Cropland in the Overberg region of South Africa’s Western Cape province. (Nini/E+/Getty Images)

South African plan to allow land expropriation fails to pass

Constitutional amendment defeated by ruling ANC's opponents on both sides

Johannesburg | Reuters –– A proposal to change South Africa’s constitution to explicitly allow expropriation of land with no compensation failed to win the two-thirds of parliamentary votes that it needed on Tuesday. Lawmakers debated whether to change Section 25 of the constitution to enable authorities to seize land to address racial land inequalities left […] Read more