Farm Management and Ag Policy

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. On a recent program, Nebraska extension specialist, Brad Lubin, talked about how the beef industry was a bright spot in agriculture, as opposed to how crop producers are facing challenges. On today's program, Brad focuses on how trade policies affect both the producer and the consumer.

[Brad Lubben, Nebraska Extension Ag Policy Specialist]
It is the quintessential question about trade and what's the benefit of trade.

And as a trade economist or as an economist studying trade policy issues, I would often characterize trade and the benefits of trade are fundamentally about consumers.

Consumers benefit from having new products or more products available and price competitiveness and so forth.

Trade politics tend to be about producers.

And it's supporting or protecting production, resources, and investments from competition from elsewhere. Whether it's fair or unfair.

Well, in the trade arena, the cattle industry, the beef industry, kind of lives in both sectors.

Um, They benefit from consumer demand that drives exports that drives domestic demand as well, certainly, but that drives exports.

And that's exports for some of the higher value products that the US produces, muscle cuts, steaks, and roast.

They also benefit from foreign consumer demand for variety meats.

The kinds of things that most Americans and consumers don't touch.

And so there's value in the carcass that otherwise wouldn't be there, were it not for the benefits of exports and the export of beef and beef products, globally.

There's also import competition and there is import competition in terms of live animals.

Arguably, that's because the US has a, I think, a comparative advantage in feeding animals and processing animals compared to its neighbors and compared to much of the world.

And so importing live animals from Canada, importing live animals from Mexico, when we don't have a New World screwworm outbreak to worry about.

Those are kinds of things that actually support the domestic industry as opposed to directly compete for prices for animals.

Well, it does offer more supply of animals.

So yes, a producer of animals thinks about imports as competition.

A producer of beef, thinks about trade as an opportunity.

And so there's there's always a distinction between which side of the trade.

Do you do you feel impacted by?

Um, the other reality, some of our imports are beef?

Well, that's imports typically of beef trim, lean beef trim.

That's what gets ground into our hamburger mix.

The US seems to be an outsized consumer of hamburger.

We love it in almost every form, and with the animals we produce, and the muscle cuts, and higher value animals that we're sending, or that were processing.

We have a shortage of beef trim to produce the mainstay hamburger blend.

And so getting that from elsewhere adds value to the tallow and the remainder of the carcass here as well.

So that's more of a complimentary import.

It's a complimentary good, not a substitute, but it looks like imports.

And so when we look at statistics, yes, it looks like we import more animals, we certainly do.

We import more pounds of beef.

We do.

Traditionally, we export more dollar value of beef than we import.

In the midst of trade conflict at the moment.

That's hurting a bit, but fundamentally, those are reasons why we focus so much on trade and trade issues.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
You can read the detailed article about issues facing the beef industry by going to UNL Center for agprofitabilities website at cap.unl.edu. You can listen to the entire interview by downloading from Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.  Beef industry policy issues are being studied by UNL students at the Krezinger Beef Industry Scholars Program. Nebraska extension ag policy specialist Brad Lubin says, the students are looking at specific issues like market risk, trade policies, traceability, labeling, and animal health. Brad points out that the beef industry has been a bright spot in agriculture, as other issues like crop production are facing challenges.

[Brad Lubben, Nebraska Extension Ag Policy Specialist]
Yes, it's, it's, it's certainly, uh, a reality that the beef history is driving the state ag economy at the moment.

In fact, if we look at farm income numbers in general that I, uh, that I look at regularly, 4 years ago, the livestock sector and the crop sector were largely on par with each other in terms of total receipts.

This year, the livestock sector is more than twice the crop sector in terms of total receipts, and 90% of the livestock sector is cattle in Nebraska.

So we know it's the cattle industry.

We know prices are up.

We know it's because supplies are down.

The cattle herd is low, which limits the availability of feeder cattle and cattle to be fed.

And so it limits supplies.

Consumer demand is held up amazingly well.

And record prices have helped drive, drive receipts and profitability higher, all the way back through the supply chain.

It doesn't mean there aren't challenges and issues ahead, but certainly some of the issues are maybe a little bit less onerous given the great returns at the moment.

Fundamentally, I think of the cattle marketing, and there's a cattle marketing committee, discussion that happens at the national conference.

Oftentimes, cattle marketing committee is concerned about the competitiveness of the marketplace, whether there are ample bids, whether there is enough transparency and competition in the market to find and receive a fair price.

Well, at at this point in time, when cattle supplies are so short, it's actually the cattle producers that may have the most leverage in the market, as opposed to traditional perspectives, that it's the feeders in the agribusiness sector that has more control.

Well, at the moment, then cattle, uh, and ultimately cattle, uh, calf producers are, are benefiting from that, uh, that leverage in the market and, and suddenly price discovery isn't quite the issue with.

It's still an issue.

There are still concerns, there are still national discussions of concentration in the sector and an analysis of whether the sector is competitive or not.

But the immediate focus on price discovery and price transparency isn't quite the same as it is when prices are struggling.

That doesn't mean that producers don't face risk.

And that doesn't mean that producers aren't still concerned about the bottom line. At these record prices.

We also have record capital investments in those animals.

And volatility in the marketplace that is dramatic from one day or one week to the next.

So producers may be enjoying record prices and record returns for the moment.

They're also facing much greater risks than they have.

One of the tools that we see that's also discussed during these meetings and across the industry is the use of some of the newer risk management products.

Livestock revenue protection is a price risk management product.

The pasture range in forage program is a drought focused production management component helps you manage your grazing capacity.

So both of those insurance tools have really come on board in the last 20 to 25 years.

Both of those have grown dramatically in terms of their usage and have become an important part of the cattle producer's, uh, risk management portfolio.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Today's program was part one of a discussion on the beef industry issues. Stay tuned for part 2 where Brad discusses trade that affects both producers and consumers. To read the detailed article, or to hear the entire interview, go to UNL Center for ag profitabilitie’s website, at cap.unl.edu, or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify, for Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. On a recent program, UNL Ag Economics Professor Jay Parsons talked about writing down your personal values and using that to establish a vision or mission statement for your farmer ranch. On today's almanac, he details the actual process of writing your mission statement.

[Jay Parsons, UNL Ag Econ Professor]
So how do you go about writing these statements?

Okay.

And, um, as with anything, it's the process that's most important because it makes you think through some of this stuff. Okay?

It's not, you want to finish product, of course, to look good, but you'll get 2 or 3 times out of just the process doing it, as you will, with the actual product that comes out.

This is the best advice I can give.

If you're going to sit there and think about what is important to you, how to articulate what the vision or the mission of this operation, farmer ranch operation is or any business for that matter, think of the 5 things.

You want people to see or know about your farm, you know, but when they talk about you and your farm or ranch operation, what are the main or the top 5 things you want them to say about you once they get to know you and once they look at what you're doing in your operation?

If there's more than one person involved, Each of you should do this on your own 1st and then compare notes and bring those together.

Okay, normally these are very short, 2 or 3 sentences would be nice.

You'll see some that are up on the internet that are quite, quite long, but what you are trying to do is come up with a concise statement of why you exist.

Why do you want to be a farmer or a rancher or run this operation?

What is it that you hope to achieve and a little bit about your philosophy, of how you go about achieving that?

And then last piece is how do you serve those that are affected by your work, that includes people within your organization, how you treat your employees or if your organization is made up of primarily a family members, how you treat your family members within there, and then also how you interact with the public in general, and those that buy your products.

So here's some examples of a farm vision statement.

This is one out of that's being used in a lot of agribusiness, uh, um, classes around the country.

Um, and I used it in one that I taught uh, years ago, but uh, basically it's a Cornelius Farms vision statement.

It's to be a farm business that farms and or manages land, to best satisfy the landowner.

So right away, they're articulating that they rent a lot of their land, and they view their landowners as one of their primary customers.

They wanted to be one of the very best farmers and farm managers in a region.

How they want people to view them.

To rent farmland by striving to obtain maximum income per acre, thus creating maximum profits for the landlord intended, through the use of distinguished management of the land.

So, they want to basically maximize those net returns for both them and the landlord.

So that's part of their objectives, right?

That's a value that they have in place.

Theyre in business to make money.

And they want more the better.

Um, but they want to do it by having good management of the land.

So they want to take care of the land.

We also have the model that appearances everything that goes for equipment and your land.

We make every effort to ensure that the landowner's land is virtually weed free and well kept.

So the last sentence kind of provides a vision of it, but the key piece there is taking care of the land is one of their core values.

You start this by getting uh, taking some time to identify your core values.

And if there's other family members involved in that operation with you.

Have them identify theirs and have a frank and honest conversation and come to a consensus on the core values that are going to drive this family farmer ranch down the path into the into the future vision that uh, that you hope to achieve.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
You can find more information on planning your future and writing a mission statement by going to UNL Center for Ag Profitability’s website at CAP.UNL.edu. That's cap.unl.edu. For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media, and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. With so much day to day activity on any farm or ranch, it can be difficult to plan ahead or simply understand basic goals and preparations for the future of the operation. UNL Ag Economics Professor Jay Parsons says, having a mission or vision statement is critical to setting goals, making good decisions, and the very future of the operation. He says that starts with determining what your values are.

[Jay Parsons, UNL Ag Econ Professor]
Let's start with a short discussion on values and what they are.

Values are standards, beliefs, or qualities that you consider worth upholding or pursuing.

Values are the way you think things should be.

So they're an ideal picture of how you think people should communicate and treat each other and how they should interact with the environment around them.

Values are what you stand for.

They're things that you don't compromise on.

If one of your values is honesty, you don't just lie when it's convenient for you.

Values can be on different levels.

Values can be personal.

I mentioned honesty, spirituality would be another one.

Things that you typically put in the bucket of being family values.

It can also be economic values.

What kind of lifestyle do you want to live?

Values of saving money up for retirement and such.

Values can be operational, the way you do things, the way you grow your crops.

Maybe it's a, basically the quality that you produce or how you go about producing that in terms of being organic or non-organic, different things like that can be a part of your value system.

And in that same bucket, there's environmental values out there, basically uh, maintaining the soil and the environment around you, water quality issues and stuff like that can enter into and be a core value of the way you do things and the way you think, think things through.

And then there's community values, which is, you know, just communication with those around you, the way you treat each other, uh, general respect for each other and helping each other out.

Those values need to get conglomerated into either a mission or a vision statement, and either one of these is a statement of the purpose of the operation, and that they explain a little bit about what the business organization is, the products and services that they actually put out.

Um, the direction of that business.

The reason it is in business, and in the case of a vision statement, uh, in particular, it could be, it should be more of a long run focus of the operation.

Matter of fact, that's one of the distinguishing features a little bit between a mission and a vision statement.

As the vision is looking out a little bit more in a futuristic sense.

The statement should also explain the uniqueness of the business.

Okay?

They should incorporate those values, the uniqueness of the people involved, and the combination of products and services that that business is providing.

So I mentioned vision or mission, and as I said earlier, there is a subtle difference with them between them and that division is more broad and more future oriented.

It's like a goal out there on horizon, 10, 20, 30 years down the road.

More of an idealistic view of where you would like to be, a little more general in nature.

A mission statement is more focused and it's on how you will get to that horizon.

When you see these statements put out by businesses, whether the farm business or any business for that matter, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between the 2 and it sometimes it's very hard to find a business that actually puts out both of these.

So I'm not advocating that you need to have both a vision and a mission statement, but you should certainly take the time to put together one or the other.

And both of them should be foundationally based on your value system.

What is it that's important to you?

So you take those things that you think are important?

You provide some to direction and the way you would like to go with those, and state some very clear objectives, like I would like to increase the quality of the soil on my operation or something like that, and you want to incorporate that, then in your vision and your mission statement.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Stay tuned to future almanac programs where Jay continues to stress how important a mission statement can be for any operation for Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills.  Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. Farmers and ranchers here in Nebraska have had to deal with wildfires and severe drought in some places, and the damage that they cause can be a tricky problem when it comes to taxes. On a recent almanac, Nebraska farm business director, Tina Barrett, discuss how being prepared before these unfortunate events take place to make a significant difference on your taxes.  She continues that discussion today by focusing on lost forage from drought or wildfire, and how ranchers might need to make some decisions about their livestock.

[Tina Barrett, Director – Nebraska Farm Business]
So we have 2 options.

And really even if it's the wildfire impact, we're really going to rely on the drought, which caused the wildfires as probably the deferral options with the livestock.

So we're really talking about those drought deferral options either way.

So we have 2 options with that.

One of them is a one year deferral, and any livestock counts for that.

So feeding, breeding, all of it.

And so that gives us a kind of a flexibility, but what that does in a kind of real short terms is allows you to defer your excess sales to the next year.

So we need to look back at the number of head that you sold the last 3 years, compare that to the number of head that you sold this year, and then take a per head average and carry that forward.

So it's not as simple as if you sold your calf crop in January.

And then sold the next year's crop in December instead of holding it till January.

It's not like, we can't just take that December check and roll it to January.

We need to do some calculations, but, you know, that one, again, works for any kind of livestock, but we do have to make that calculation by type.

So we would look at the calves and the number of excess.

We would look at the cows and the number of excess, and we look at the bulls and the number of excess.

And that just moves that into the following year.

So it works really well, especially with feeding livestock to kind of keep it on a similar half as what your history is.

You do have to have be in an area that was eligible for federal assistance.

If we would get a FEMA, you know, presidential declaration for that area, which could be coming with the wildfires, that's an automatic guaranteed.

But I think we can also look at some of the other things that come from federal assistance outside of FEMA as justification for that.

And the drought monitor is a great resource to show that there's definitely a drought happening and and those kinds of things.

But any sort of documentation that you can keep to show that the sale was due to a due to the drought or other weather related conditions is going to be real important for you.

The other option is a, starts as a two-year deferral.

This is only good for draft dairy and breeding animals.

So not the feeding livestock.

I mean, not the calves.

And this gives us up to 2 years to replace that livestock.

The one year deferral just moves the money and you tax it later.

This one you have to replace it.

If you don't replace the animals, then you have to come back to the air of sale and amend your tax return.

So again, kind of still have to have that weather related conditions doesn't have to be eligible for federal assistance to get that 2 year deferral.

So that's kind of nice, gives us a little bit more flexibility in that one.

But 2 year becomes a 4 year if there is federal assistance granted.

So if we would get some of that sort of designation in your area, we can make that a 4 year deferral, and then it can actually get extended one year at a time if those drought conditions continue.

So, I know we have a lot of counties in Nebraska where we are past that 4 year period, um, and we could continue to defer, and that's maybe good, maybe bad, but, um, it is an option to continue that as long as the drought continues.

The general rule with, with that replacement is that it has to be replaced with light kind, though, so beef cows for beef cows, dairy cows for dairy cows.

And if we get to that 4 year period, then they lift that restriction.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Today's program is a portion of an interview taken from a recent beef watch podcast offered by Nebraska extension. To hear the entire interview, go to beef.unl.edu or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac. Nebraska has had a share of natural disasters like tornadoes, hail damage, floods, and more recently drought conditions and wildfires. Nebraska farm business director Tina Barrett talks about some critical tax strategies that might make a significant financial difference in dealing with these issues on the farm.

[Tina Barrett, Nebraska Farm Business Director]

You know, anytime we have a, a, really a casualty loss is what, what the term is, it often impacts a lot of different assets.

So whether it's a wildfire or a tornado or anything like that, when it's multiple assets that are being damaged or destroyed like we're seeing, we have to look from a tax standpoint at each of those assets individually.

And so it's going to be really important that you keep track of what has been damaged.

So take pictures, if you compare that with pictures from before, that's great documentation, but definitely take pictures of anything that was destroyed, or document the fact that it's not there anymore.

Make sure that you're tracking the insurance records and stuff, what's coming in for insurance by asset, and that gets to be really complicated, especially if they're giving you a specific percentage up front.

And then the remainder when you repair or replace it.

Sometimes each asset could have multiple payments.

Sometimes those payments get spread over 2 years.

So all the kinds of things just get to be extra complicated.

The other part that complicates this is some of the assets are business assets, and some of the assets are personal assets, and that has a different tax treatment, and how we handle those.

And so making sure that we're keeping track of how much insurance is for personal things, you know, the house and the vehicles and those kinds of things versus your business assets is also going to be really important.

So, yeah, it just becomes a real record keeping kind of nightmare and really tracking through all that.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Tina says keeping in close contact with your tax advisor, with specific information on your issues is key to making good tax decisions.

[Tina Barrett, Nebraska Farm Business Director]

You know, the earlier, at least for me, the earlier I could get the data with the insurance, the items that were damaged, all of those things, if I can do those kind of calculations when it's not tax season, it's a lot easier to make sure that those things get done, right?

And then you've got decisions to make.

Are you going to replace?

Are you going to repair?

Are you gonna switch to, you know, a different enterprise altogether?

All of those kinds of things have different tax effects.

So I'm a big proponent of not doing things for tax reasons, but making sure that you don't do things without understanding the tax consequences either.

Yeah.

So anything that's that's destroyed from an event that's out of your control.

So that's when we get to the casualty losses.

And so what really, again, it's a little bit complicated in the, in the, um, calculations of that.

But essentially what we do is say that any gain from the insurance can be kind of deferred into the year when it was replaced, so those offset, and we don't have to like have a sale in one year in a purchase in another year.

But it's calculations based off of how much basis was remaining, how much insurance, money you got, and how much you spent to repair or replace.

And so all of those kinds of things will go into that.

From the personal side, we need to know what you paid for those items, how much insurance reimbursed you for it, and then there's some limited deductions we can take if you have losses beyond that.

And so, again, the calculations are different and kind of all those things get fairly complicated, but making sure that you know what you paid for the asset.

If you've taken depreciation on it and how much insurance was provided for that asset, it's going to be the important pieces for your tax preparer to make those calculations.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Stay tuned for future programs where Tina discusses your tax options, when disaster strikes on the farm, for Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac. Farmers and ranchers have always had a reputation for toughness and resiliency.Being able to survive environmental problems, volatile markets and sticking through all kinds of tough circumstances, has been the hallmarks of the ag industry. So asking for help carries a bit of stigma that is difficult to talk about. Extension educator Glennis McClure wants to change that and help farmers understand that everyone has stress, and there are healthy ways to deal with it.

[Glennis McClure, Nebraska Extension Educator]

Well, I think there has been a stigma in that, you know, I'm tough.

I'm going to get through it.

You know, I'm going to do it on my own kind of thing.

And I think that we've started to break down some of those barriers, though.

And because I just think back to a few years ago with the pandemic and how and how we saw a lot of different stresses during that time, and I think that we started to hear a lot more about resources and help available for folks that, um, you know, that are really experiencing stress.

But, so, and I, and I, you know, I think some of the messaging that Nebraska Extension has put out is that, you know, Nebraska really needs you, and it is really important to reach out.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Glennis says the university and extension offer resources to help farm families cope with stressful situations.

[Glennis McClure, Nebraska Extension Educator]

Recently, our Nebraska extension has, um, um, you know, I guess, brought up a disaster, uh, website disaster education website, and there's mental health and well-being information on that website now.

Um, and, you know, you mentioned the Nebraska rural response hotline.

That is really a great resource here in Nebraska.

In that, I like to always say that they do have vouchers for folks to seek some mental health counseling if needed.

So, because I know if, like, finances are really kind of tough and and we don't feel like we can afford to, you know, seek that help, they actually will provide some vouchers for folks to be able to visit with a mental health counselor.

And we shouldn't be afraid to do that.

Again.

Um, you know, it's really important to take care of ourselves and that's one of the things.

But also they also have provided some financial assistance.

And so that's a great resource, Nebraska rural response hotline.

Um, so you can call them and, you know, sort of get on their schedule if, if that's something that, um, sounds appealing.

You know, we do mention some of our other partners that university extension works with, and there's other universities that have put out, a lot of great information, but AgraSafe, has put out some information.

Um, there is some, um, some suicide, um, prevention trainings, and being able to recognize when someone's up against, you know, maybe maybe they've mentioned or thought about the suicide thing, and you mentioned that 988 number is really, really important, that if we ever know of anybody, or even ourselves, if we're thinking about that, you know, just talking with someone that's, you know, well prepared, that understands all of that, can help you through that, that 988 number is important.

But I want to mention that AgraSafe has provided, there's a program called QPR.

And so I mentioned that here in the article, and they've done some online trainings for folks.

And then there are other trainings that are available in the communities.

We have an extension educator that's trained a train facilitator in that.

So you can just kind of watch for when some of those programs are available and folks can learn more about how they can, you know, sort of help themselves, but also help others in their area and recognize some of those signs and symptoms of potential suicide.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Today's program was a portion of an interview taken from a recent farmcast podcast offered by UNL Center for Ag Profitability. To read the detailed article or download the entire interview, go to cap.unl.edu, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. For Nebraska Extension Almanac. I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac. Farming and ranching can be a quite stressful enterprise.

That is especially true during drought and wildfire damage that our state has recently experienced. Extension educator Glennis McClure talks about recognizing stress on today's almanac.

[Glennis McClure, Nebraska Extension Almanac]

Every so often, um, we see things, you know, out and about in the rural area of Nebraska of, you know, some things that are going on that can lend lend itself to stress.

And especially this year, we think about the wildfires and all that folks are dealing with with that.

In some cases, I can't imagine.

And also, we, you know, we're seeing this drought just kind of continue.

So much of Nebraska is under a drought.

And also, we knew going into 2026 that our input cost on crop production.

We a little higher.

We're going to be higher.

Commodity prices are low. At, you know, and they fluctuate, yes, of course, and it's a market we need to watch.

But we have now, fertilizer costs have jumped up.

We're seeing some of the pesticide costs coming up and fuel.

So there's just been a lot of things happening and some uncertainty.

You know, we have folks that are, you know, maybe financial, starting to see some finances and struggling with a bit of that too.

So, so anyway, we just want to be, um, try to be helpful with information on resources that can, uh, uh, we can provide to folks, um, put as much of a positive twist and some, um, suggestions out for people to pay attention to.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Stress has a number of causes, some sudden like weather events like hail or flooding. Another source can slowly build up over time. When it says it's important to recognize what's happening, so you can find ways to deal with it.

[Glennis McClure, Nebraska Extension Educator]

I think in ourselves, There's sometimes different indicators, and we all deal with stress in a different way, really.

Sometimes we're affected more physically, you know, we might have, like, let's say our blood pressure goes up.

We might get sweaty palms, we might be more fatigued.

We might have nausea happening, shortness of breath.

So these are things that are physical, but then we also have our thoughts and our feelings.

Sometimes we just become angry.

Maybe we're feeling more depressed than, you know, than ever.

We just don't feel like doing what we've always done, kind of, and, you know, we don't have the energy, perhaps, to get out and to do the work that we need to do.

Maybe we're really nervous.

We might be overeating.

We might be undreating.

We might be, you know, interested in drinking more.

Maybe our sleep is affected.

So there's a lot of different things that can happen to us and that, so as we recognize that in ourselves.

But also, I think, you know, in a family, we can also kind of pay attention to those around us.

And, you know, do we see someone that's really struggling to sleep.

Do we see someone that seems to be very depressed?

Um, you know, just paying attention, watching for those signals, I think is really important.

And that's one of some of the things that we teach when we are talking about mending the stress fence or communicating with farmers under stress.

And part of it is too, trying to pay attention and really being a good listener, you might pick up different things.

And from folks.

And you can ask them, you know, how we are in passing a lot of times, how are you today?

And you might say, oh, I'm just fine.

I'm just fine, you know?

And so we just kind of shrug it off, you know, and I'm like here to say, you know, if you're struggling with anything.

Don't hesitate to talk with someone about that.

And also on the flip side, hopefully we can be a good listener and we can pick up on some of those cues that people might be providing about sort of what's going on in their life.

And it's good to ask some questions, not those yes, no questions, but more of those.

Really, how are you doing?

Can you tell me what's going on, you know, in your life right now?

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Stay tuned to future programs where Glennis talks about healthy ways to deal with stressful situations on the farm. Today's program was a portion of an interview taken from a recent farmcast podcast offered by UNL Center for Ag Profitability. To read the detailed article, or download the entire interview, go to cap.unl.edu, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media, and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac. On today's almanac, extension educator Glenis McClure discusses how net farm income affects the total net growth of a farm operation. There are a myriad of considerations when it comes to income versus growth and net worth of any farm business, and Glennis focuses on the important accounting details that farmers need to be aware of.

[Glennis McClure, Nebraska Extension Educator]

I think it's really important farmer ranch business should know what their actual or true net income is, or in other words, their profitability.

And this takes figuring beyond what the Schedule F tax form shows us.

So, net farm income generated from the business should be adequate to cover family living, cover annual taxes that are due, and the remainder is what's available to reinvest back into your operation.

Most farm and ranch businesses are cash bases, accounting folks, rather than a cruel basis.

And that's generally for text purposes.

So we need to take the time and make a cruel adjustments to get to our actual, or what I call true profit amount.

And so there is a relationship between the true farm income or profitability that is on the bottom line, figure off of a profit and loss or income statement, to the change in net worth from beginning of the year to the next.

And it relates back to what is being invested into the operation from net farm income.

So again, if we take net farm income and, you know, we have to pay income taxes, if we have a positive, we generally want to have some kind of living from our, um, from our business, you know, there is off farm income that can help, though, of course, in many cases.

But then the residual is what you have to reinvest.

Or in other words, like pay down debt and that type of thing.

So that, so we, you know, most businesses want to grow their net worth over time.

And this is definitely an important figure to look at.

Really, what is their true profitability?

So, well, an accrual adjustment.

With that, we're trying to get a clear picture, again, of the value of production for the accounting year and the actual expenses that relate to that production.

So it could be, you know, cattle production, crop production, any of that.

So, because there's so much that we have to put into those crops, so much that we have to put into those livestock.

And so we're growing and we're producing through that year.

So at the end of the year, we may not have sold all that year's production.

So oftentimes we do have inventory.

So at the end of the year, I still may have those calves that were, you know, born and raised, and I still haven't sold them as of, let's say, January one.

Same way with my crops.

Oftentimes I carry those over watching the market, you know, getting ready to sell when that market opportunity is there.

So in our records for the year, we may not have sold or we end up carrying over those that crop or that livestock from the prior year as well.

So I can look at the end of the year and say, yeah, I still have some of this year's production left.

Even a year ago, I had something from the prior year.

So what we're trying to do with these, um, accrual adjustments is to really get a real picture of what happened for a particular year.

So, and again, prepaid expenses come into play.

Um, so, um, you know, like our seed or our feed and those kinds of things.

So those are the kinds of adjustments that income statement worksheet, you know, really is for.

So truer actual net farm income or profitability, again, not the bottom line figure from the schedule F must be positive enough to cover our personal withdrawals or family living expenses unless there's off farm income, enough to pay income taxes owed based on the farm's income generation for the year, and then to reinvest or pay down debt.

So if we see positive net worth change or growth from the beginning cost basis balance sheet to the end of the year balance sheet, then we know we've adequately covered those three factors, and the operation was profitable.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Today's program was a portion taken from a recent farmcast podcast offered by UNL Center for Ag Profitability. To hear the entire interview, go to CAP.unl.edu or download from Apple Podcast. For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, program host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. On a recent program extension ag economist, Jessica Groskoff detailed a few issues for producers to consider when it comes to rebuilding or replacing their fences lost in the wildfires. On today's program, she continues to discuss key legal issues for fence building. She says, in the case of an absent landowner, written notification of fence repairs required, and encourages farmers to understand the law.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]
So once you have provided that written notice, then when you go onto the property, I think the most important thing is that you are not allowed to remove trees, buildings, personal property, or other obstacles without the neighbor's permission, or a court order.

The other piece about this is there may be disputes of where the property line actually is, and we highly encourage you to have that property line surveyed in order to make sure that we've put the fence in the right location.

[Brad Mills, program host]
Jessica talks about some of the government programs and cost sharing available to help landowners with the cost of rebuilding fences.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]
So when we're talking about replacing fence in particular, we're talking about the emergency conservation program, and this program provides between 75% and 90% cost share, for farmers and ranchers, but this cannot exceed half a $1000000 or 50% of the agricultural value of the affected land.

So this program is important and is something that we need to be looking at.

So there will be a sign up period.

It will be for 30 to 60 days.

So work with your local FSA office to make sure that you enroll during the sign up period.

And I think one of the most important parts of this is there is a needs assessment that must be completed by FSA, or in our CS, and you cannot start work on your fencing until that plan or that needs assessment has been completed in order to get the cost share.

So, as much as I think we want to go out and start working on these projects if you are looking for reimbursement from something like the emergency conservation program, we really do need to make sure that we're going through the process of applying and getting the needs assessment prior to beginning work.

Otherwise, we might disqualify ourselves from that reimbursement.

So as we think about this process, I really want you to come up with a strategy of how you're going to apply for these dollars.

It's likely that USDA will not be able to reinverse everyone for the replacement of their fences.

So as we talk about these perimeter fences, you know, starting the conversations now with your neighbors, regarding how that fence is going to be, number one, rebuilt, but number two, how we're going to apply for reimbursement for it, really thinking through some of those interior fences about whether or not they need to be rebuilt or whether we can use new technology or set up our operation a little bit differently to be more efficient.

So all of the articles from UNL extension related to wildfire can be found on our website at disaster.UNL.edu, and that will include this article about rebuilding fences after disaster.

[Brad Mills, program host]
Today's program was a portion taken from a recent beef watch podcast offered by Nebraska extension. To hear the entire interview and read the detailed article, go to beef.unl.edu or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, program host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. The recent wildfires in Nebraska have damaged over 900,000 acres of rural land, and some of that damage was done to infrastructure like fences. It might seem like a simple task to reinstall destroyed fences. 
But extension Ag Economist Jessica Groskoff says there are some key issues to consider before rebuilding.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]
As we think about fencing in particular, I think we have to really go back to Nebraska State statute and look through what it specifically says about fencing.

So Nebraska livestock owners are liable for any damage that their livestock cause when they're trespassing.

If the owner does not use reasonable care to prevent that trespass.

So again, the law does not specifically require livestock owners to fence livestock in, but that's often the most reasonable and practical way for us to prevent them from trespassing on others' property.

So in Nebraska, we kind of go by what we call the right hand rule.

So if I have a neighboring property.

What would happen is each owner would walk to the center of the fence and you would be responsible for the fence to the right of you.

So we call that their right hand rule.

And so that's really what dictates maintenance and rebuilding offenses as we think about this.

However, we know that sometimes, one landowner is more proactive.

So, Just because we're responsible for maintaining and repairing that fence doesn't mean we can't repair the entire fence, but we can ask for reimbursement from our neighbor if we do that.

And I think this is really important as we think about wildfire damage is the fact that we're rebuilding entire fences.

And so we need to understand what type of fence can be built and how we go about building that fence when we have a neighboring property.

[Brad Mills, program host]
Jessica talks about the legal standards for replacing fences after something like a wildfire is damaged or destroyed the previous fence.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]
So the 1st thing I want to say is that if you don't agree, that's only when these standards apply.

So if you and a neighbor agree to different standards, You can go through those different standards.

If you and your neighbor don't agree.

Nebraska state statute steps in and it says that the fence must be at least 4 wires.

It must be nine, number 9 fencing wire attached to posts, no more than 16.5 feet apart, with a post or a stake between every 2 posts, and the fence must be at least 4.5 feet high, with no more than one foot between the wires measured from the top.

So again, that's in the statute.

That's the minimum fence, according to the statute.

However, if you and your neighbor agree to a different type of fence, you are welcome to build that other type of fence.

[Brad Mills, program host]
Jessica says there are specific steps to take when dealing with an absent landowner when the fence needs to be fixed.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]
So you must formally serve written notice that you are going to build, maintain, or repair that bordering fence.

If your landowner is an absentee landowner, you must serve that notice to whoever lives on the property or the owner's agent, which is typically their tenant.

And we encourage you to do this probably via registered mail so that you have documentation of that notice.

And then after the written notice has been served, only then can you begin to construct or maintain that fence?

[Brad Mills, program host]
Stay tuned to future almanac programs where Jessica discusses other key legal issues when it comes to rebuilding fences. Today's program was a portion taken from a recent Beefwatch podcast offered by Nebraska Extension. To hear the entire interview, Go to beef.unl.edu, or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For Nebraska Extension Almanac. I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac. A recent survey of Agland values in Nebraska revealed a decline for the second straight year. While there are numerous factors for this decline, extension ag economist Jim Jansen says cash rent has also several items that determine rates, such as location, usage, and responsibilities, between owner and tenant.

[Jim Jansen, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]
Annually, the University of Nebraska Lincoln, with the center for agricultural profitability, annually surveys, individuals working in the land industry, on current trends in the market value of land, as well as cash rental rates across Nebraska.

Recent findings from the preliminary estimates as part of the real estate survey for the upcoming 2026 survey took a look at current trends and cash rental rates across Nebraska.

As part of this survey, the University of Nebraska Center for Agricultural Profitabilities preliminary estimates, summarizes changes across the 8 agricultural statistic districts for Nebraska are more commonly referred to as crop reporting districts on average for dry land craft land, gravity irrigated crop land, center pivot irrigated crop land, grazing land, or pasture on a per acre basis, as well as cow calf pairs on a month ly basis.

Now general trends across Nebraska indicated a slight decline for crop land, which is reflecting current trends or expectations related to profitability for crop land across Nebraska.

And we also seen a slight increase across the state or a slight to gradual increase for grazing land across Nebraska, which also reflects changes in the profitability for cow calf pairs or cattle prices that some might have for this upcoming fall when cattle are pulled off the pasture and some folks might be selling calves or maybe they were eight until after the 1st of the year with doing that.

Now, the average cash rental rates reported for gravity, irrigated, and center pivot irrigated crop land assume that the landowner owns the entire irrigation system.

A patent provides a component of that, especially on center pivot irrigated cropland where they might provide either the pivot, or the power unit, we might discount the cash rents to reflect the fact that the tenant is individual responsible for ensuring, repairing, or maintaining those improvements if they own those.

And we've seen discounts around $35 to $45 an acre when the tenant provides a pivot, and also some averages from a real estate survey from back in 2023 discounts of around 10 to maybe even $15 an acre in the event the tenant provides a pivot.

Now, they irrigated rental rates.

There's upkeep associated with that, and there's also upkeep associated with grazing land, whether it's control of noxious weeds, repair fencing materials, things of that nature.

Who is responsible for maintaining those things?

Well, I think generally speaking, tenants are have the expectation when they initially rent the property that's fairly well maintained, they have good equipment and things are kept up to speed or kept up in a state that are conducive to what they're trying to do out there.

Minor upkeep might be something that can be negotiated into the lease.

Major upgrades or major concerns, getting those addressed might be an expense that we have to dive a little bit deeper into, and maybe we would discount the cash rent for the upcoming year, years to reflect a large contribution, if a tenant has the type of equipment, maybe do dirt work or remove unwanted trees or brush with, say, a large excavator, for example.

All those things are negotiable elements of a lease and something that we need to be aware of when we're negotiating leases just beyond the cash rent or when there's a cash rent due, we need to be setting up a lease that accounts for both the contributions of both parties involved when it comes to setting a lease format that is conducive to the expectations of the upcoming year.

Drought, fire damage is definitely something else that we need to consider.

And I encourage everyone to exert flexibility when appropriate to account for these events that unfortunately have impacted us.

Find more information on the Nebraska farm market, real estate preliminary estimates, including land values and cash rental rates.

That is it, the Center for Ag Profitability website at cap.unl.edu slash real estate.
[Brad Mills, Host]
For Nebraska extension almanac. I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media, and Nebraska Extension. For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Host] 
Nebraska Extension Almanac. Just as it is extremely important to make a state and transition plans for your farm operation after you retire or pass away, the documentation will ensure that your wishes are carried out. On today's program, extension ag economist Jessica Groskoff details the documents you'll need for an estate plan.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]
So an estate plan, you absolutely need a will, a power of attorney, a power of attorney for healthcare, and a healthcare directive, or a living will.

Those are the 4 documents.

These documents are relatively easy to put together, and they can be updated as long as you are competent anytime prior to your death.

I like to think of these as the safety net, right, of a more complicated plan.

But the base there are these 4 documents.

So let's go through what these documents do.

So will assign someone called the personal representative and what their job is to distribute your assets that pass through the will at your death.

That's their job, is to make sure that this goes to this person.

That's what a will does.

Okay?

Now, not all assets will pass through a will depending on how things are set up, but you absolutely need one, even if you have more complex estate planning tools like a trust.

Okay.

Now, the next 3 documents, the power of attorney, the power of attorney, for healthcare, and the living will or healthcare directive, I often like to think of as the documents for your sunset years.

Um, but really there any time that you cannot make a decision for yourself, if you are incapacitated in some way.

These documents will come into play.

So a power of attorney assigns an agent, and in the 1st case, that power of attorney will carry out business on your behalf.

Now, this can be very broad, or it can be very narrow, but a power of attorney is important to carry on business while you are unable to make those decisions for yourself.

A power of attorney for healthcare can only make decisions on your behalf when you are unable to make them for yourself and only for healthcare decisions.

And finally, the living will or healthcare directive is the document that says what kind of care you want.

Now, we have a few different people that we've named here.

We have a personal representative in the will.

We have an agent within our power of attorney for business, and we have an agent in our power of attorney for healthcare.

These can be the same person.

They do not have to be.

The one thing I will say about that is it's somewhat easier if the personal representative and your business power of attorney are the same because they are dealing with specifically the business until your death and then can carry on after your death.

Okay.

However, they do not have to be.

I do not like to see multiple people named to these positions.

I think you need a primary person, and if you want to name like a backup.

That's fine, but I don't want to see panels of people, right?

So if you have multiple children, I don't want to see them be co powers of attorney or co-personal representatives.

I think it's important to name one and then have a backup on there.

[Brad Mills, Host]
For more information and guidance on estate and transition planning, go to UNL Center for Ag Profitability website at cap.unl.edu. That's cap.unl.edu. For Nebraska Extension Almanac. I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.
For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Host] 
Nebraska Extension Almanac. Just as it is extremely important to make a state and transition plans for your farm operation after you retire or pass away, the documentation will ensure that your wishes are carried out. On today's program, extension ag economist Jessica Groskoff details the documents you'll need for an estate plan.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]
So an estate plan, you absolutely need a will, a power of attorney, a power of attorney for healthcare, and a healthcare directive, or a living will.

Those are the 4 documents.

These documents are relatively easy to put together, and they can be updated as long as you are competent anytime prior to your death.

I like to think of these as the safety net, right, of a more complicated plan.

But the base there are these 4 documents.

So let's go through what these documents do.

So will assign someone called the personal representative and what their job is to distribute your assets that pass through the will at your death.

That's their job, is to make sure that this goes to this person.

That's what a will does.

Okay?

Now, not all assets will pass through a will depending on how things are set up, but you absolutely need one, even if you have more complex estate planning tools like a trust.

Okay.

Now, the next 3 documents, the power of attorney, the power of attorney, for healthcare, and the living will or healthcare directive, I often like to think of as the documents for your sunset years.

Um, but really there any time that you cannot make a decision for yourself, if you are incapacitated in some way.

These documents will come into play.

So a power of attorney assigns an agent, and in the 1st case, that power of attorney will carry out business on your behalf.

Now, this can be very broad, or it can be very narrow, but a power of attorney is important to carry on business while you are unable to make those decisions for yourself.

A power of attorney for healthcare can only make decisions on your behalf when you are unable to make them for yourself and only for healthcare decisions.

And finally, the living will or healthcare directive is the document that says what kind of care you want.

Now, we have a few different people that we've named here.

We have a personal representative in the will.

We have an agent within our power of attorney for business, and we have an agent in our power of attorney for healthcare.

These can be the same person.

They do not have to be.

The one thing I will say about that is it's somewhat easier if the personal representative and your business power of attorney are the same because they are dealing with specifically the business until your death and then can carry on after your death.

Okay.

However, they do not have to be.

I do not like to see multiple people named to these positions.

I think you need a primary person, and if you want to name like a backup.

That's fine, but I don't want to see panels of people, right?

So if you have multiple children, I don't want to see them be co powers of attorney or co-personal representatives.

I think it's important to name one and then have a backup on there.

[Brad Mills, Host]
For more information and guidance on estate and transition planning, go to UNL Center for Ag Profitability website at cap.unl.edu. That's cap.unl.edu. For Nebraska Extension Almanac. I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.
For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

JayStratPlanning23 Transcript:

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.

The volatile nature of the ag industry can make strategic planning for any operation a headache. Nebraska extension ranch management specialist Jay Parsons says successful operations have a solid foundation of planning, as well as good decision making under pressure, on today's almanac, he talks about how strategic planning can help producers chart a plan to success.

[Jay Parsons, Nebraska Extension Ranch Management Specialist]
Well, surprisingly, a lot of the stuff hasn't been done in the U.S. As far as studying producers implementing strategic planning and whether or not they're doing it successfully.

So at least the studies I was able to find were pretty much overseas or up in Canada.

So Peter Nuttall out of New Zealand's done quite a bit of work looking at managerial abilities of ag producers and different aspects of that.

And his survey, he was asking producers to rank, different attributes, that they think are important for management.

And surprisingly, having a clear vision of their missions and objectives and goals, uh, ranked, kind of in the middle of pack. Who's about 6 on their list of 15.

I think that they ended up ranking.

But things that were at the top were things that we'd expect to be there.

Like the ability to basically read the tea leaves, right?

See where the markets are going, see what's happening out there and reacting accordingly, where the type of things that made the top five.

And then there were some out of UK.

And, um, there was a study there on just general small businesses, small family uh, businesses in rural areas, um, and then uh, one that they looked at the actual uh, farmers themselves and uh, things that they uh, ranked up there.

It pretty much, you know, comes down to goals and objectives, right?

It's kind of the take-home point of things that they pointed out in there.

Um, you know, other things that you could do, like SWAT analysis, you know, strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and stuff like that kind of kind of weigh in there a little bit, but a lot of producers don't get to that level of it.

But they at least, I think one of the studies, there was 3 quarters and the other one, maybe 2 thirds, that actually said that they had a clear understanding of their goals and objectives.

Surprisingly, well, maybe not surprisingly.

Very few actually had them written down.

So it's more like 10 or 15%.

Just general planning tools, right?

So, so, you know, you think of crop farmers or crop rotations, you know, where they're going to put their crops in what years and how those rotations might work, same thing on the on the livestock side with grazing management plans and stuff like that.

That we might think of more traditional production planning tools.

Those are also part of your strategic plan, right?

Because a lot of times it has to do with basically machinery replacement decisions or machinery purchases, land, management decisions and so on.

So all of those are part of an overall strategic plan.

But then certainly cash flow projections and things like that, the financial side of it weighs in there too.

For the most part, people, you know, and Agar try to build their financial positions or their equity position.

So having good, you know, financial statements produced on a regular basis and just kind of goals of different metrics that you're trying to reach each year is important.

Farmers or ranchers spend a lot of time producing, right?

So they're sometimes they're on tractors, sometimes they're out on a horse or at a pickup or whatever.

And they think about things that they want to accomplish on their operation virtually every day, you know, several times a day.

Um, just take some time to think about some timelines.

You know, what is it?

How would I measure progress towards these things I want to accomplish?

And then take, you know, some time to write some stuff down.

You got to start someplace.

So you never really know what the key metrics are until you start thinking them through, right?

What is the right way to measure that I'm actually growing my business in the direction that I want it to go, reaching, uh, if you're wanting the next generation to take over, what kind of planning goes into that in terms of of getting those uh, young folks involved in the operation and finding a place for them to uh, operate and function and grow as a manager within the operation.

Lots of different things like that that you can think through and where you want your operation to be in five, 10, 15 years, and then just, you know, lay out some things that you would use to measure that you actually make in progress.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Today's program was a portion taken from a recent farmcast podcast offered by the University of Nebraska Center for Ag Profitability to hear the entire interview, go to cap.unl.edu or download from Apple iTunes. For Nebraska Extension Almanac. I'm Brad Mills. Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media, and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.