Land

John Malone is now the largest land owner in North America. His latest purchase of a million acres of timber land in the northeast surpassed the total owned by his friend, Ted Turner at 2 million acres.

I have always been interested in land as you can't farm without it. I even got my real estate license in the 70's and learned a lot more about property but it never really helped me acquire much until we bought this farm in 2004.

My young friend Brad got his real estate license last year and has quickly become one of the better real estate agents around, especially for farmland as he shares the same interest I do. The economy is so bad in Ohio our land hasn't brought the outrageous prices west of here.

A farm with a 62 CSR rating in Iowa just brought over $8000 per acre. That's pretty big money for pretty poor land. Land even less productive just brought the same price in Missouri. Here the asking price is closer to $4000 per acre and I know of a rough farm that just sold closer to $2000 per acre.

Lots of land has changed hands across the country in the last ten years, especially since the economic crash. Land is seen as a good hedge against inflation in these turbulous times if you can afford it.

Owning farmland is the most satsifying thing I have ever done. I should have started when I was 21 and land was only $200 per acre.

The land owners we deal with are very happy with our farming and our returns on their investment but I prefer owning my own so I call all the shots and only deal with my banker.

Ed Winkle