Mexico Opposes Ethanol

As we’ve seen over the last few months, skyrocketing commodity prices are pushing land values to record levels. They are also squeezing cattlemen and other producers who rely on corn and other grains to fatten livestock and poultry. One of the loudest voices protesting this trend has been Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who petitioned the EPA to grant a 50 percent waiver on the 9 billion gallon corn-based Renewable Fuel Standard. Now another vocal opponent of ethanol has emerged: south of the border. Read more

“The Land Market Has Never Been Stronger”

So says Mac Boyd, a broker at Farmers National in Arcola, Illinois. Boyd is just one of the many veteran real estate professionals who are closely monitoring the strongest farmland market in decades. Read more

Pinon Canyon: Uranium Contamination?

First, the Army set off a firestorm when it announced its intention to use eminent domain to condemn 400,000 acres of family farms and ranches in order to triple the size of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. Then lightning strikes ignited wildfires at Pinon Canyon that burned out of control on almost 50,000 acres on and off the range. Read more

Florida to Pay $1.75 Billion for 187,000 Acres in the Everglades

In a massive deal announced earlier today, the State of Florida will acquire almost 300 square miles of the Everglades in and around the south end of Lake Okeechobee from U.S. Sugar Corp. for $1.75 billion ($9,000+ per acre). Read more

Brokaw Steps up to Meet the Press

Losing Tim Russert was the sort of blow that makes you take pause. The man was 58 years old and at the top of his game, and it showed each week he hosted Meet the Press. I don’t know if or how his death darkened your day, but in the week or so since his passing I have bemoaned this loss with friends, colleagues in the media business, and absolute strangers: in airports, at Starbucks, everywhere. Last Sunday I tuned in to watch the special edition of the program, and now I tip my hat to Tom Brokaw for volunteering to man Russert’s post through the election season. Thanks to our hourlong interview last year, I wasn’t the least bit surprised.

678,000 Acres for $20 Million?

For the price of a penthouse overlooking Central Park, an investor could also buy 1,000 square miles in Brazil. Prices such as this listing in the Amazon River basin’s Madeira River are one of the many reasons that many are looking overseas as well as here in the U.S. But as this article in The International Herald Tribune points out, price is only one of the considerations when purchasing in a foreign country. Read more

Rising Fuel Costs & the American Landowner

11 billion miles. That’s the decrease in the number of miles Americans drove in March 2008 versus March 2007, according to the Federal Highway Administration. As this article in the Wall Street Journal points out, the 4.3 percent drop is the biggest-ever year-over-year reduction in miles driven. Moreover, consumers now believe high prices are here to stay. How are rising energy prices going to change the lives of landowners? Read more

Fire Fuels Pinon Canyon Debate

Lightning has struck twice. The Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site is front-page news yet again, only this time the focus of the controversy is not just eminent domain but wildfire. Read more

Clint Eastwood Goes One on One with The Land Report

Clint Eastwood sticks to his guns. Not just when creating iconic characters such as Rowdy Yates, “Dirty” Harry Callahan, and Bill Munny or in his scintillating body of work as a director, but as a landowner. He’s interrupted a family vacation to discuss his breathtaking development overlooking California’s Central Coast. Read more

Hunting Land is a Hot Investment

Over the last decade there’s been a boom in rural land prices throughout much of the United States and parts of Canada. I say this not because of some government report or a recently released study but based on firsthand experience. I live in southern Iowa, and I have been buying rural land here since 1995. Back then I could little afford more than an old used pickup truck. Yet land was so cheap that I couldn’t say no. Read more

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