The Ranch Post

In Reno, Nevada this week, the estate of a rancher was awarded $4.2 million by a federal judge after “ruling that the U.S. Forest Service committed a constitutional ‘taking’ of his water rights during a decades-long dispute over livestock grazing on federal land.” The rancher, Wayne Hage, who died in 2006 and was also a property rights activist, had owned the Pine Creek Ranch since 1978 and first filed a claim in 1991. In a 2004 interview before his death, Hage told the Associated Press that the case “could have a dramatic impact on Western state’s rights and the proper jurisdiction of federal lands in the West.” Click here to read more.

Private investors are now betting on increasing global food demand. The latest trend has these investors buying up farm and ranch real estate, along with equipment, around the globe. Some are positive about the trend, claiming these investors “could bolster food production at a time when the world needs more of it.” However, some are skeptical, “concerned these newcomers will focus on profits above all else.” Read the article in The New York Times.

The Casper Star-Tribune is reporting that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has warned Powder River Basin land users that a sage grouse study will affect drilling and grazing in the area. “Grazing, along with oil and gas development, could be affected most… Drilling plans not yet approved, grazing lease transfers and renewals, even ’solid minerals’ such as coal, could be deferred.”

According to the article, “from 2000 to 2005, sage grouse populations amid coal-bed methane activity declined by 86 percent, whereas populations outside of coal-bed methane development areas declined by 35 percent.” Thus the reason for the study. A public meeting will be held on May 28, 2008 in Buffalo, Wyoming.

Everyone’s heard the buzz in the news - is the U.S. in a recession? While MRG is not at liberty to say if that is 100 percent true or not, we do feel it’s safe to say that there are more reliable and stable investments out there than others.

In the LANDFLIP Blog this week, Curtis Seltzer, a land consultant and author, offers his opinion on why Americans invest heavily in the stock market, and explains that the real estate market, particularly land, is a sound and lucrative investment in the current market. To read the article, click here.

The American Farm Bureau is reporting the results of a Department of Agriculture survey of farmer’s planting intentions for 2008. According to the report, “U.S. farmers are expected to plant about 18 percent more soybeans this year, while their corn acreage could decline by about 8 percent from a year ago.” The report is significant, as the day the report was released, a bushel of corn was “up about 10 cents to 15 cents.”

In related news, the New York Times elaborates on our April 1 blog on how ranchers and farmers are taking their land out of the government’s Conservation Reserve Program, and farming that land to cash in on the agricultural boom. “Environmental and hunting groups are warning that years of progress could soon be lost, particularly with the native prairie in the Upper Midwest. But a broad coalition of baking, poultry, snack food, ethanol and livestock groups say bigger harvests are a more important priority than habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife.” According to the article, as many acres as “are in Rhode Island and Delaware combined” were converted from conserved to cultivated land last fall alone.

It’s been going on for a few years now. In 2005, the U.S. Army announced plans to expand the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, (located between Trinidad and La Junta, Colorado), “by 418,000 acres, with the potential for expanding the site to more than 2 million acres.” Since most land in that area is privately owned, many generational ranching families are worried about their land being taken over by eminent domain.

Read a detailed recap of the ongoing events on the Western Horseman website.

From around the web, here’s the latest news on conservation tax credits in Colorado:

• “Ranchers worry about future of conservation tax credit,” KUNC 91.5 FM Radio Broadcast
• “Columnist: Transparency welcome on open space tax credits,” Vail Daily, by Cindy Cohegan, Executive Director, Eagle Valley Land Trust”

Also, check out “Ridgeway rancher looks back” in the Telluride Daily Planet, an article about the life of Deedee Decker, the wife of our Agricultural Stewardship Expert, Peter Decker. The Deckers came to Colorado in the 1970s, and have been extremely active in the community from the get-go. Here she discusses everything from their initial move from the East Coast, to learning to become the agricultural experts they are today, to advising Ralph Lauren on buying his first ranch property.

La Mancha Retreat, an estate for sale in Buena Vista, Colorado, is House of the Week in today’s Wall Street Journal. Check it out, and please contact Tommy Latousek if you have any questions or would like to schedule a showing.

According to a recent poll by Landflip.com, 37% of land buyers are looking for hunting and recreational land. 21% were looking for retirement homesites, and 17% of land buyers are looking for an “income producing property such as a farm, timberland or row crop.”

Check out the full-results of the poll.

Looking for hunting properties? Take a look at hunting properties in our Ranches by Type section of our website.

Photo: Steamboat Rock Ranch, a hunting property for sale in Larimer County, Colo.

“As home prices continue to slide nationwide, the value of farmland is setting records,” according to an article in USA Today. And experts are predicting that farmland will continue to appreciate by 6-12% over the next 3 years! This is mainly due to “demand for grain for food, fuel and export.”

Worried about the stock market? Talk to Mirr Ranch Group today about the investment opportunity in owning farm and ranch real estate.