Impending auctions of key parcels, record-setting new listings, fire-sale prices on bankrupt holdings – the number of transactions taking place in all sectors is quite encouraging and, as you will soon read, in all parts of the country.

For more up to the minute reports on listings, auctions, sales, and breaking news pertaining to land and landowners, be sure to follow The Magazine of the American Landowner on Facebook and Twitter.

P.S. Our award-winning quarterly magazine is available in a print version via subscription.

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Minnesota Power has notified the North Dakota Public Service Commission of its intent to begin the second phase of the Bison Wind Farm project in central North Dakota. The additional capacity will increase total power generation to 185 MW. The Bison 2 wind project  will use 35 3-megawatt turbines manufactured by Siemens AG. Further expansion of the Great Plains wind farm is planned to meet Minnesota’s mandate for 25 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2025.

“The timing is fortunate for expanding our renewable energy production,” said Alan Hodnik, president and CEO of Minnesota Power’s parent company, ALLETE. “Development of Bison 2 will leverage substantial investments we’ve already made in North Dakota and take advantage of the federal production tax credit and a very competitive wind turbine market.”

“Bison 2 will be very economical for our customers,” Hodnik added. “This project is an example of our larger strategy of meeting the demands of a changing energy landscape, reducing our overall reliance on fossil fuels, and making effective use of existing transmission capacity.”

Electricity generated by the Bison Wind Farm travels to Minnesota via transmission lines used for coal-generated power from the Milton Young station near Center, North Dakota.

Read more HERE.

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Agricultural land values in the Seventh Federal Reserve District jumped 12% in 2010, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The district encompasses key portions of America’s Corn Belt, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The increase was the second largest on record over the last three decades and was greatest in Iowa, where values soared a whopping 18 percent.

According to the Chicago Fed’s newsletter, “Slightly more than half of the respondents expected farmland values to keep rising during the January through March period of 2011.”

Read the Chicago Fed’s AgLetter HERE.

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Bill Lane believed in taking the “steeper path to the farther goal.” A visionary with an independent spirit, Lane’s love of the land and the Western lifestyle led him to resurrect New Mexico’s legendary Bell Ranch and return it to its former grandeur. The Bell and Lane’s other significant landholding, 7,600-acre Eldon Farms in rural Rappahannock County, Virginia, have been enjoyed by generations of the Lane family and have also served the public by preserving two beautiful and historic natural resources.

Lane’s road to the Bell Ranch began in 1947. A naval aviator during World War II, Lane, his brother, and a close friend made a modest investment in a struggling manufacturing company with sales of $250,000 and 20 employees. Under his leadership, General Binding Corporation grew into an industry giant. By 1967, the company, which by then had gone public, operated 17 plants around the world with offices in more than 50 countries and sales in excess of $20 million.

But business wasn’t Lane’s only strong suit. The Milwaukee-raised mogul possessed an uncanny ability to identify one-of-a-kind properties. His first major foray was in Virginia’s Piedmont Country. In the early 1960s, he discreetly acquired farm after farm in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains: Rappahannock, Culpeper, and Madison counties. Through more than 40 purchases, he assembled almost 9,300 contiguous acres. Devoted primarily to cattle as well as orchard and row crops, Eldon Farms evolved into one of Virginia’s largest private land holdings.

In 1969, Lane’s search for a sprawling spread led him to Northern New Mexico and the iconic Bell Ranch 150 miles east of Santa Fe. The Bell’s 130,855-acre headquarters had been the keystone of the historic Pablo Montoya Land Grant, a massive 655,468-acre holding whose storied past dated back to 1824. When Lane purchased the tract in 1970, it was the largest sale in the Southwest in decades. Lane made clear his intention to “keep the ranch running like it has been in the past—a real working ranch for the production of fine cattle.” The Bell Ranch became his passion, and, within a few years, he had increased its size to over 290,000 acres, almost half the size of the original Montoya grant.

Bill Lane’s ability to start small but think big was echoed in many aspects of his life, including his business career and his land holdings. Beginning with Eldon Farms and subsequently on the Bell Ranch, his wisdom in selecting properties with enduring value is even more apparent today than when he acquired them 40 and 50 years ago—a testament to his love of land.

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BY ERIC O’KEEFE

The amount of corn used for ethanol production has increased fourfold since 2000 from 600 million bushels to more than 2.4 billion bushels in 2006.

FACT: 16.5% Increase in average price of an acre of land in Iowa

In Iowa, the average price of an acre surged 16.5 percent to $4,313 for the year ending March 1, according to the Realtors Land Institute (RLI). The USDA reports Missouri farm values up more than 15 percent to $2,280 per acre. Even recreational land prices surged: 12 to 13 percent in Illinois, according to the Illinois Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. And the fuel propelling these increases? Government subsidies for corn ethanol.

The amount of corn used for ethanol production has soared fourfold since 2000 from 600 million bushels to more than 2.4 billion bushels in 2006 (more than 20 percent of the U.S. corn crop). According to the USDA, that number will increase more than 40 percent in 2007 when an estimated 3.4 billion bushels are used. In addition to keeping corn prices at near-record highs, this trend has led to a decrease in the number of acres planted in soybean and cotton, the conversion of Conservation Reserve Program acres back to cropland, and even farmers in nontraditional corn states converting crops to corn.

Broker Randy Hertz has been monitoring this price surge from the eye of the storm: rural Iowa. The president of Hertz Real Estate Services and the 2006 national president of the RLI, Hertz labels this phenomenon “ethanol euphoria.” He also offers some advice to those unfamiliar with the driving force behind these production numbers: “Never underestimate the ability of the American farmer to produce corn when the price is high.”

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