A note from Mom | “Inheritance is a gift, not a right”
By Mike Downey, Certified Farm Succession Consultant I was recently handed a note written by Mom she wishes to have her children read one day. She opened her letter with…
Iowa Farmer Today – Flex leases have benefits in volatile markets
We would like to thank the Iowa Farmer Today for asking us to contribute to this story about flexible cash rent lease arrangements. Our leasing program that is mentioned in…
8 Tips for Finding the Right Landlord
Article by Betsy Freese from Successful Farming The corn crop around Lisbon, Iowa, this morning is on pace for record yields, but the four men gathered for a discussion are…
Pay Yourself First with a Flexible Lease
By Mike Downey, Next Generation Ag Advocates Pay Yourself First. A common phrase we’ve all heard from the financial planning industry to encourage us to set aside a percentage of…
The Cash Rent Lag Effect & How a Flexible Lease Can Help
“Fifty-three percent of Iowa farmland is rented,” according to the Iowa State University Farmland Ownership Tenure Survey released in 2017. A high percentage of these agreements are for a simple…
Farm Leases | How Does Land Stewardship Fit In?
The New Food Economy published an article in May 2018 written by Beth Hoffman who has reported on food and agriculture for more than 20 years. One of her conclusions…
Farmland Owners & Producers | The Next Generation and Why We Need Them
Production agriculture will face multiple challenges in the decades to come as several reports suggest our world population will increase by over a third to a total of 9.8 billion…
‘Perfect storm’ brewing in agriculture
Originally published November 17, 2012. Download a pdf of the original story here. My heart goes out to the people of the East Coast after Hurricane Sandy ripped through their…
Parents pass down a ‘gift that keeps on giving’
Originally published July 21, 2012. Download a pdf of the original story here. The first official day in my farm estate-planning career was July 1, 1992. At 22 years of…
Good fences make good neighbors
Originally published April 15, 2017. Download a pdf of the original story here As the grass starts to grow each spring, it makes me think of turning cows with baby calves…