US Farmland Returns Begin to Cool in First Half of 2023

US Row Crop Farmland shows signs of cooling in the first two quarters of this year according to the latest NCREIF data. As can be seen above, the quarterly [appreciation rate of 1.0% is down from 2.4% the previous quarter, while the latest year-on-year increase (sum of current and previous three quarterly figures) is 8.7%, down slightly from 9.0% the previous quarter.

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Brett MacNeil
Team-Based Sales and Service Culture: Striving for Collective Success

In the fast-paced and increasingly competitive world of Ag Investing, organizations are constantly seeking innovative ways to boost productivity, achieve targets, and foster a collaborative work environment. From our founding in 1998, we have implemented and strived to support a team-based sales and service culture, but like any strategy, there are both pros and cons of such a culture.

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Brett MacNeil
Mindset vs. Skillset

In the pursuit of personal and professional growth, two powerful forces come into play: mindset and skillset. Both are essential components that contribute to our success and shape our ability to navigate challenges effectively. One without the other is severely limiting.  However, if interconnected, mindset and skillset can play distinct and synergistic roles in our journey towards achieving our goals.

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Brett MacNeil
My Forever Contract

Helene Cser, our Systems & Services Manager, was recently married to Michael Fulton on a beach in Jamaica. This is her unique take on marriage, contracts, and teamwork. …And congratulations to Helene from her Scythe & Spade Family!

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Brett MacNeil
Team Synergy, Pulled Off

Teams play a crucial role in all organizations,  not just sports.  After the Princeton upset over my Arizona alma matter,  Princeton Coach Henderson spoke “not of lucky breaks but of a plan,  generations in the making, Pulled off.”

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Brett MacNeil
2023 Idaho Water Forecast as of March

The outlook for Idaho surface water irrigation as of 3/1/23 is much improved along the Snake and Boise River systems for 2023 vs the previous two years due to above normal snowfall and precipitation in the current water year, however the central and panhandle regions of the state remain below normal.

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Brett MacNeil
Scythe & Spade Welcomes Gavin Doss as New GIS Systems Analyst

Scythe & Spade is proud to announce the addition of Gavin Doss as our new GIS Systems Analyst. Gavin will be supporting the GIS needs of Scythe & Spade clients both internal and external farmland acquisitions/dispositions real estate activities, due diligence studies and farm management services, as well as further developing Scythe & Spades vast proprietary FarmBase™ GIS, GPS, and relational databases and analytics system.

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Brett MacNeil
The Clustering of Regional Farmland CAP Rates

The CAP or Capitalization rate for investment farmland is simply the cash rent or total income divided by the asset value. It is a simple measure of returns to investment that allows comparison not only between regions and farmland types, but also with other assets such as stocks or commercial property. It can also be a measure of perceived risk, with investors demanding a higher CAP rate for those assets perceived to be more risky. What we see in the chart below is a re-ordering and clustering of regional returns from the year 2000 up through Q3 2022.

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Brett MacNeil
US Annual Cropland- High Returns Remain Steady Through Q3 2022 When Will it Revert to Average?

US farmland values have been on a tear for the last year and half, increasing at rates not seen since 2011 – 2012, when drought and short supplies drove agricultural commodity prices to new highs. The current run up in prices has numerous drivers, including drought last year in the EU and China, drought in the US and China this year, war in Ukraine disrupting grain shipments in the Black Sea, and, not least, monetary inflation hitting numbers not seen since the early 1980’s.

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Risk and Compensation; A different way of looking at Ag Real Estate Transactions

How is risk tied to compensation in the agricultural real estate and investment world? At Scythe and Spade, we like to develop long-lasting relationships with our clients that are built on experience, trust, and accountability. This enables us to partner with our clients under several alternative compensation approaches which share the risks and rewards, reveal and resolve issues up front, and ultimately speed up the entire process while achieving the clients selling or purchasing objectives.

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Brett MacNeil