It's not what you gross...

Stopped at the dairy farm just up the road from my place, I usually swing in a get a couple pickup truck loads of manure once they start spreading. Figured this year I'd ask if I could just hire them to drop off a load instead of trying to coordinate and take a day off from the office.

I knew the previous owner from the fire company, and I remember one of his words of wisdom to me, "It's not what you gross, it's what you net." Morrisson passed away about 5 years ago, well into his eighties.

Anyway, after wheeling-and-dealing for them to bring over half a spreader load when they get a chance I was bullshitting with Fred (I forget if he's Morrison's son-in-law or nephew). Fred was filling up the feed wagon with grain, and the wagon was hitched to an A-C D19 Diesel.

I knew it was old, never thought when I looked it up that I'd find it hasn't been made in forty years, but yep, there it was. And still in daily service.

Thinking more about it, they don't have a single tractor that isn't persian orange -- which means even their big 4x4 has to be 20 years old, maybe 19 if they got one of the last ones.

I'm sure the land is bought-and-paid-for, and the barn is circa 1940 tie-stall, but here they are two farmers making a decent living milking 77 Guernseys, following Morrison's advice.

Unfortunately, I know they're both in their 50s, and while I see grand-kids hanging around the barns sometimes, I don't see any of the younger generation working there. Their land has over 1/2 mile of frontage on two sides of a U.S. Highway in a commercial zone, and their fields further away are in a town where houselots start at $30k. I'm kinda half suspicious once they retire, I won't be too far behind them moving to someplace that's "in the country" again!

As these cities grow & push the surrounding farmers out, thet get increadable amounts of money. Which the government taxes. Unless they go through a rather complicated process of rebuying farm land within one year of getting the windfall.

So, land in my neighborhood has about doubled in the past 18 months. It's the outsiders deperately needing to reinvest their land dollars bidding against each other.

This leaves me & my neighbors out from ever hoping to buy land. There is no way to make any net on land at these prices. It is purely an investment. Now I don't blame those fellas, they are trying to shelter their land sale profits from the govt, and this is about the only way the govt allows them to do so.

But, proerty taxes are getting so high, regular farming doesn't cover those bills even.

Think about that when you talk about 'everybody' moving out to someplace with more room.

We are running out of places with 'more room' and our ecconomic & tax structures are getting so out of whack that farming is becoming unstable.

We are all going to be eating Agrintene beef, Brazilian soy, and many imports from China & Russia in the decades to come.....

--->Paul

This is the reality and result of our current tax system. I lived it when I retired recently. In the early '70's I bought a piece of property for $28K. Over the years I paid off the loan and converted the property to income property. I recently retired I wanted to move to a slower life, so I sold the property at a nice profit of $325K. Much of this increase in value was a result of inflation over the years.

Because of the basis of $28K the IRS intended to tax me on the difference between basis and selling price (Capital Gains Tax at 15%). I had 45 days from closing date to identify property I was going to reinvest the profit in, and I had to close the deal by the time taxes were due for that tax year, or pay capital gains tax on the whole amount.

This to save paying a huge tax on evaluation as a result of inflation over the years. I didn't cause inflation, the government did. And then the government intended to make me pay for it. This may be the cause of some country property prices being out of reach of the local folks. We urban folks need to protect our investment in inflated land prices when we retire.

Sorry it is happening to the country families, but all things are not equal in our system.