Attorney James Decker’s advice to ranchers entering lease agreements for oil and gas exploration on their land is to have a lawyer with expertise on mineral rights on your team....More

What impact would the failure of the U.S. Congress to address the estate tax before Jan. 1 have on your business operations and estgate planning? Unless Congress acts, the federal estate tax will drop on Jan. 1 from the current $5-million individual exemption and 35% tax rate, to $1 million and a 55% tax rate. Most land-owning agriculturalists, who tend to be asset-rich but cash-poor, would be impacted by that change....More

The average value of U.S. pastureland rose 4.5% through the start of this year to $1,150/acre, USDA says. That’s another new nominal high, but pales against the blistering cropland market, where values swelled 14.5%....More

Is this a golden era for agriculture, or are farmers setting themselves up for a 1980s type of scenario where land prices skyrocketed, only to take a hard correction down and a lot of farmers with it? While the situation now has some resemblance to the 1980s, one banking expert says we’re not in a bubble yet....More

The surge in farmland values continued through the spring and early summer, but the pace moderated in June, according to the Rural Mainstreet Index. The June Index, which captures the overall health of rural communities in 10 states, declined to its lowest level this year....More