Who's gonna admit.

[blackpowder]

With all the doom and gloom on here. Just thought I'd ask. Who's gonna turn down a nice land package if offered this fall/winter??

[crusher]

Powder is dry. Call me.

[GDR]

Time heals all wounds they say. Every year at the end of seeding or the last field at harvest I'm glad to be done and that I don't have more to do, definitely feel that way now and am hardly started harvest! Seems though a month later its pretty easy to look over the fence and think I need more! Competition for rental land is out of control though mostly overpriced and what is the point of that?

[Quadtrack]

If a life goal is to own some amount of land, you have to be prepared to buy when the opportunity is there-good crop, weak crop, good returns, poor returns. This is really important if you want high quality land (our area only has a limited amount of top quality land-held in pretty tight hands)
We've bought land in 1991, 1996, 2002, 2008 and 2013-the first being incredibly low price and the last being high-every time "paid way too much" according to the coffee experts. Except for the '13 stuff, it's all paid for.
Renting-I agree it's overpriced and out of control- this fall may bring that back in line some. But again, at least here, if you don't rent when you get the chance, you often forfeit the chance to buy if/when it comes for sale.
I'm mostly talking about prime high assessed grain land. Low quality land is more available for good reason.
There was an excellent full section of land for sale in 2005-thought the price was too high and so didn't pursue very hard - talked with the owner and could have made a deal, but didn't. Still hate driving by it to this day.
I often think shit ass luck and date of birth has as much to do with land success as anything. Expanding in late 70's early 80's being the reference point, in hindsight, for about the worst time.
Being ready and keeping your financial house in order is never a bad thing if at the end of your career you want to own a few sections. Reckless overbidding and expansion beyond the capability to manage it is a recipe for disaster imo. Careful steady growth in concert with luck seems to work.
Not really looking to expand any further. That said, swapping for some closer to the main yard might be of interest if the chance comes. Gotta try and be ready

[bucket]

Catch shit weather from mid August on where a guy can't string together 5 solid days and you really think more isn't better.

The seeding plan was one of the best I had in the last 5.....but harvest just didn't flow because of the weather....

Not pursusing land...was hoping just to stay ahead for next year. ...dwindling every day.

[jake550]

That's called winter farming lol
It's always awsome by December or January.

[Richard5]

With all the doom and gloom on here. Just thought I'd ask. Who's gonna turn down a nice land package if offered this fall/winter??

Personally, I would turn it down, have enough for a very comfortable living and my son is being trained the same mentality.

Had to run north to the NAPA dealer at Watson and they were telling me a large farm around there has almost 10,000 acre out yet?? All custom harvested also and that they have been very aggressive for a number of years buying land.

I would expect if the opportunity arose for a farm like that they would still be full steam ahead. As I see it, a farm that large would have adequate cash flow to simply write the cheque for 3 or 5 qtrs per year. A bit hard on tax but it is possible with better years we have been seeing that last 5. Now if a farm like this is carrying a huge debt I would strongly suggest no more expansion and maybe even a realignment of assets to free up debt. In my mind huge debt is the equivalent to 1 to 1.5 times your average gross production per acre.

[hobbyfrmr]

The biggest and best have piles of money and pay well for any land. I have a neighbor land lease auction coming up and it will go for over $100.00/acre quite easy. People talk about these big operations and how much canola 8,000, or 4000 acres acres per farm. Ultimately it's all relative. Those farms are 70% complete no different than the medium to small farms. It sounds like a whole lot but really it's not a big deal.
Personally I like the size of this farm, I would like to buy some more land but competition is strong. Two years ago the above mentioned farmer at 68 yrs old won the tender to buy a quarter beside me. I missed the target by $105,000.00. It's funny, I spent 3 days grinding a mortgage calculator to try and make it work out but I was not even remotely close. Fair enough.

An old school friend bought his family home quarter then sold off 100 acres after 2 years. He is now free and clear on his home and never had so much cash in his life. He will retire by 50 quite easily.

[Ache4Acres]

Got to live up to my name...always aching for acres. Seems so rare for something nice to come up for sale.