#2 The Next Generation of Ag Leadership

          Last Thursday, I attended my second lecture in the Great Hall at the MU. This one was called "The Next Generation of Ag Leadership", and was based around farming in America and more specifically, Iowa. This weeks was definitely not as interesting as last because Agriculture does not strike an interest to me.
          The man who delivered his speech and told us all about the farming economy was Jim Farrel. He is the President and CEO of Farmer's National. This business not only deals with farming itself, it does much more than that; they own 2.5 million acres of farmland, they manage oil and gas through agricultural senses, and they deal alot with business management.
          Jim came in saying that now is one of the best times to be in Agriculture, it's considered the "Golden Age" of farming. Recently, farming has somewhat "taken off" and land plays a very HUGE part in this. Land is at one of it's highest values as of now, and there are a few problems that the buyers of land are running into. Over 75 percent of the land owners are over the age of 65. Nearly all of these owners have long term plans for their operations; farming, equipment, and land. They either plan on donating the land to places such as Iowa State University for research and learning purposes or they mainly give it to a family or relative. These people who either keep it or donate to different causes are considered the active land owners, they want this land for what it is, and to serve a purpose with it. Only 3-5 percent of the active land owners actually are selling their land for money. Now on the other hand, there are also people known as commercial farmers. They are what give us 93.5 percent of our revenue with farmland. They average 1600 acres of land and use it for a much different purpose. They themselves do not farm the land, they just manage opperations. They want to keep the land and once the market and price for that land increases, they sell it for a profit.
          Recently, the active farmers are adding acres for their farmland. They work to create a profit and once that profit is earned, they use that in order to expand their farms. Investors however are the buyers and sellers. They are more ag knowledgable and good with macroeconomics. They are in it to create a quick profit off of buying and selling the land. The main point to this whole lecture is that there is an extremely STRONG demand and there are more buyers than there are sellers. This isn't necessarily a good thing, they say it may be a potential threat that can derail the ag market as a whole.