Farms disappearing at alarming rates

   / Farms disappearing at alarming rates #41  
BleedingOrange said:
I believe Bill Gates is buying up US farmland at an incredible rate as well. What does he know that most people don,t ?
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Not having to borrow purchase money at market rates would make a huge difference in the previous math I posted, a different location could also. If paying cash, my guess is that something around 400 acres could be viable even when commodity prices are low. And larger tracts typically sell for slightly less per acre than the single 80 I had in my example.

I imagine that Bill Gates has attorneys and accountants to manage ownership and tax liability for his various land holdings. If his non-profit happens to own the land it could even be tax exempt. He’s on a different level than an average guy that would be interested in trying to farm for a living.

I agree land is the best investment available. It has a fixed quantity in the face of a perpetual increasing demand. The initial cost is a significant barrier to entry. My grandfather originally bought his entire farm for $20 an acre in 1932. That original parcel is now 9 parcels with houses on 7 of them. The first 4 acre piece chunked off sold for $96,000 in 1998, and there’s probably $4,000,000+ in total market value sitting on that land today.
 
   / Farms disappearing at alarming rates #43  
   / Farms disappearing at alarming rates #44  
MossRoad said:
www.insideindianabusiness.com

Mammoth Solar project doubles land use with local animal, crop production - Inside INdiana Business

The country's largest solar farm is being built on 13,000 acres in Starke and Pulaski counties in northwest Indiana. It is largely rural farmland with a total combined population of about 35,000. Then, solar panels started popping up.
www.insideindianabusiness.com www.insideindianabusiness.com
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That one is north of my dads farm a few miles but 1.5 hours from me. They have already had one portion wrecked by weather. Pulaski county managed to keep the windmills out but the companies are now suing the county. Unfortunately they wouldn't deny the solar as they were worried about being sued by them as well.

What amazes me is how neighbors that used to be good neighbors now hate each other because of how windmills affect the other instead of directing in more to the company that owns the windmills. The agreements are secret and any divulgement of the agreement is in violation of the agreement. If a piece of land with one on it is sold the buyer can not get a copy of the agreement. They have to sign a privacy agreement with 10's of thousands of dollars in penalties if violated, and then they are shown the agreement but it never leaves the companies hands.

The neighbors of the solar panels in pulaski county are complaining of the high pitch shrill you can hear from the inverters quite a distance away.

They also want to pump CO2 into the ground here now and also in Lebanon Indiana they are developing a huge muti factory park and want to pump 100 million gallons a day from the Teays River for evaporative cooling for the factories. They will pipeline that water from the north side of the wabash. It serves a large portion of this areas drinking water and irrigation water on the sandy areas along the wabash.
 
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   / Farms disappearing at alarming rates #46  
Hay Dude said:
Oh stop complaining. China means us no harm. They just tariff the bejeebers out of our imports and buy up land next to top secret military installations.
Whats the problem with that? 🤷‍♂️
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Not disagreeing with your statement...... :cool:.... but consider the alternative.....

Is getting bought up by creepy 'ol Billy (frequent flyer to Epstein Island) Gates an improvement ?

Rgds, D.
 
   / Farms disappearing at alarming rates #47  
USMC43 said:
...

What amazes me is how neighbors that used to be good neighbors now hate each other because of how windmills affect the other instead of directing in more to the company that owns the windmills. ....
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I disagree with who to blame. It's the people that own the land 100%. They're the one's that are allowing it on their property.

With that said, it's their land to do what they want with. At least that's the same argument hog farmers used to use when "city" people would move to the country and complain about the smell. Except it's now a sight, not a smell. An appearance. Etc.

Personally, I'd like to see the country gravitate towards more nuclear power. I'd much rather have solar than wind, just for the appearance factor. Natural gas is pretty clean. Coal is a last choice.

There's a large solar farm going in west of us, and a HUGE battery plant. I'm not sure the people that live in that area understood how large that battery plant is going to be. They should have driven down to Kokomo and had look. It's going to alter that small town for eternity. But again, the only people to blame are the farmers that sold the land for the projects.
 
   / Farms disappearing at alarming rates #48  
   / Farms disappearing at alarming rates #49  
MossRoad said:
There is ZERO evidence to support that statement.

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aside from my general disgust with the topic, my bigger concern (thread related) is what he is doing with all the land he owns.

"In May 2020, Reuters Fact Check found flight logs showed Gates had traveled on Epstein’s plane once, not multiple times, and claims he had visited Little Saint James were unfounded (here).
The available flight logs of Epstein’s private planes, viewable online in uploads by Gawker.com (here) and Factcheck.org (here), show the billionaire philanthropist flew on an aircraft of Epstein’s once to Florida, not to Little Saint James."

We'll never know, all the history. Besides.... that article is only talking about Epstein's plane..... it's not like 'ol Billy couldn't afford a fleet or 3 of his own..... I spent a lot of time in the Tech-sector, where he was held in low-esteem, for reasons other than the above allegations.

Faith In Legacy-Media.... a whole topic on it's own, more appropriately for outside of this thread/site.

Rgds, D.
 
   / Farms disappearing at alarming rates
  • Thread Starter
#50  
oosik said:
The major farming industry around here - cattle, wheat and apples. It's not so much - loss of farm land. It's consolidation of smaller farms into larger corporate farms.

The small farmer is selling out to the large corporation. The small farmer does not enjoy the economy of scale factor.
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If the small farmer was selling out to the large corporation, the number of acres wouldn't have fallen by 20 million
 
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