August, 2011
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Depletion – The Larger of Cost or Percentage!
We had a reader ask the following question: “Hi, I just inherited a Kansas wheat farm with an oil well on it. I assume that I still get the 15% percentage depletion on the oil royalty. My question is do you know if I can “value” the oil and then take a larger cost depletion […]
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My Reflections on the Midwest Crop Tour
As most everybody knows, I spent most of last week on the Midwest Crop Tour. The weather this year was much better than last year when we got rained on for one full day of the tour. I do not remember even getting one sprinkle this year. My thoughts are as follows: Last year, I […]
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Midwest Crop Tour – Final Day
Since I had a meeting in Austin, Minnesota today at 3 pm, I had to miss taking corn and bean counts for the day. After taking counts yesterday for almost 12 hours straight, I actually did not mind the rest. Also, during yesterday’s route, I ended up cutting two of my fingers with a corn […]
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Midwest Crop Tour – Day Three
I am sorry I did not post about day three of the crop tour sooner. I have had multiple issues with cell phone coverage and Internet service on this trip so far. Yesterday, we had to go north about 25 miles from Nebraska City before taking the toll bridge over the Missouri River near Plattsmouth, […]
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Midwest Crop Tour – Day Two – Part Two
Just finished up with the dinner and presentation on the numbers. Appears there was almost 200 farmers in attendance. Nebraska corn was called about 4-5 bushels less than last years crop tour’s numbers but almost exactly equal with the three year trend. This was in line with my two days of going on the route. […]
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Midwest Crop Tour – Day Two
Today was our lightest day of traveling. We left Grand Island, Nebraska this morning at 7 am and spent most of the day headed a little south, then east, then north, then east, then south and east to finish at Nebraska City, Nebraska at the Lied Lodge at the Arbor Day Farm. If you have […]
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Midwest Crop Tour – Day One
We arrived late Sunday night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota just in time for the meeting with all of the other tour participants. With the flooding of the Missouri River near Omaha, we had to make several detours which probably added an hour to our drive. The river looks like it has come down maybe […]
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Getting Ready for the Midwest Crop Tour
I am spending the night in Spokane since my plane leaves at 6:30 tomorrow morning. I did not feel like getting up at 2 am to drive three hours to catch my flight. That is one of the joys to living in Yakima, Washington. I will arrive in Kansas City tomorrow at about 1 and […]
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IRS Required Interest Rates Nearing All Time Low
The IRS publishes each month the Applicable Federal Rates (AFR). They just published the rates for September in Revenue Ruling 2011-20. These rates are broken down into three different terms: Short-term (less than 3 years) Mid-term (more than 3 and less than 9 years) Long-term (more than 9 years) These rates determine the minimum interest […]
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Where did the Million Acres of Wheat Go?
There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal this morning about how the USDA issued information regarding the current wheat harvest that normally would required a Freedom of Information Act request to get. Previous reports from the USDA had pegged the spring wheat crop at about 12.7 million acres. The report just released […]