The Best Job in America?

In a previous story at LandReport.com, we took a look at the value of hiring a competent ranch manager to oversee a larger piece of property. While competency is one key attribute, passion is another. Read on to see what I mean. Read more

In Focus: The Forest Landowners Association

Created in 1941, the Forest Landowners Association (FLA) is a proactive, progressive, grassroots organization of timberland owners – large and small – that owns and operates more than 37 million acres of timberland in 47 states. It is the only organization created for the specific purpose of speaking for timberland owners at the local, regional and national level. Read more

The Rise and Fall of Ethanol

One of the more telling anecdotes about ethanol comes from Boone Pickens. It’s always an eye-opener to listen to this master raconteur discuss energy and politics. Last month I heard him tell an audience at Georgetown University about a sit-down he had in Washington in the late 1980s. Read more

Low Food Levels, High Corn Prices Mean Less Land for CRP

Driving today I tuned into C-SPAN Radio on my XM dial looking for something better than the latest Top 20. I caught the tail end of a conversation,  Congressional testimony it sounded like, regarding the current food crisis that is plaguing the United States and the rest of the world. The discussion centered on a program and its effects on those prices. Read more

Maine Goes Public on 10 Million Acres

The last and largest contiguous block of forestland east of the Mississippi – more than 10 million acres – is up for grabs … at least as far as public policy goes. Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission is now holding public workshops, which will soon be followed by public hearings, which will then be used to develop a Comprehensive Land Use Plan for the Pine Tree State. Get ready. Read more

“Land is the Riskiest Form of Speculative Real Estate”

Every once is a while, someone gets it so wrong that they end up being right. This quote by Paul Puryear, a housing analyst at Raymond James & Associates, ran in today’s Wall Street Journal. It’s about CALPers and its tanking land play outside of Los Angeles. His quirky rationale belongs with the best of Yogi Berra. I’d put it up there with ”This is like deja vu all over again.” Here’s why. Read more