America’s Land Auctioneer
Captivate and celebrate the dynamics of rural America, American Agriculture and inspire and teach others how to live a bold and abundant life in rural America. Background: The intrigue, endless opportunities, and romance of rural life in America have never been more on the minds of Americans. The recent pandemic and civil unrest have Americans of all ages earning for a more peaceful, less hectic life. Even billionaire Bill Gates is now the largest crop landowner in America. As many Americans look for peaceful refuge in the rolling hills and wheat fields they are faced with a richness of opportunities. But where do you begin to look? This show will highlight and feature endless opportunities in every state. What is it that is so unique about rural America, the land and what it produces? How can I live that life? The American Land Auctioneer will tell stories and weave into those stories a place for you to dream, live and enjoy the abundance of all that rural America has to offer.
America’s Land Auctioneer
Land Market Insights: Navigating Today's Agricultural Landscape
The agricultural land market is defying conventional wisdom. Despite economic headwinds and rising interest rates, farmland values are reaching unprecedented levels across the Midwest, with premium soils commanding exceptional prices at recent auctions.
A Clay County farm recently sold near $9,000 per acre while Lamoure County land exceeded $7,000 per crop acre - both representing some of the strongest results ever seen in their respective markets. What's driving these remarkable numbers? The answer lies primarily in soil quality. Properties featuring loam-based soils continue attracting intense competition from both neighboring farmers and outside investors who recognize the long-term productivity such land offers.
Tax planning has become increasingly critical for landowners contemplating a sale. Many current sellers purchased their land decades ago for a fraction of today's values, creating potential tax liabilities that require careful consideration. Proactive strategies like 1031 tax-deferred exchanges can help manage these implications effectively. Without proper planning, tax obligations can substantially reduce net proceeds from even the most successful auction.
On the rental front, rates have generally maintained stability across the Northern Plains despite some downward pressure from current commodity prices. The pastureland rental market has been particularly strong, supported by healthy cattle prices and continued demand for quality grazing opportunities. This rental stability further reinforces investor confidence in farmland as a reliable income-producing asset.
Looking ahead to spring, an impressive lineup of equipment auctions features several notable retirement sales with exceptionally well-maintained machinery. These sales present valuable opportunities for producers looking to upgrade their operations without the premium costs of new equipment.
Despite various challenges facing agriculture today, professionals remain cautiously optimistic about both land values and farming opportunities. Their advice: stay focused on operational excellence and long-term planning rather than becoming distracted by short-term market volatility or political noise. Those who approach the market with patience, prudence, and a commitment to quality management will likely continue to see farmland demonstrate its enduring value.
Follow at www.americalandauctioneer.com and on Instagram & Facebook
Contact the team at Pifer's
Welcome to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm Kevin Pfeiffer, america's Land Auctioneer. Great to be back in the host seat. It's been quite some time since I've been able to host this show, but I appreciate everybody filling in for me. Jack Pfeiffer is in studio today, the CEO at Pfeiffer's, and Dwight Hoffman, senior Farmland Manager and runs the Land Management Division Vice President for Pfeiffer's, here today as well. But over the course of the last couple of months, christian Miller, one of our equipment managers at Pfeiffer's, jim Sabby, an equipment manager and also a farm auction real estate specialist, and Andy Murdoch, pfeiffer's equipment manager, auction manager, has been helping out as long as Steve Link, pfeiffer's broker. So again, we've had a great crew hosting, haven't we, jack?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we have, it's been a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you guys do a great job. I listen to the podcast on fun. Yeah, you guys do a great job. I listen to the podcast on Spotify and Apple as often as I possibly can. And then also you guys are broadcast on a lot of radio stations throughout the region and what a great opportunity for all of our listeners and whether you're a Piper's client or not, to learn from the best of the best in the business.
Speaker 2:Whether it comes to evaluating your farm, putting a valuation on your farm, managing your farm with Dwight and his team, or also selling land and equipment, nobody does it better than the team at Pfeiffer's and again, I think that's reflective of the great turnouts that Pfeiffer's had. Recently I had an opportunity to attend some Pfeiffer's land seminars. I understand that in the Arizona seminars at Gold Canyon and also in Mesa, record turnout crowds Jack, you were at those, dwight, you attended as well. But I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Pfeiffer's second anniversary seminar in Naples and another huge crowd down there Not quite 100, but a very good crowd for another huge crowd down there near not quite a hundred, but a very good crowd for our second year down there. But as I understand it, there was a lot of excitement amongst the participants at the seminars that Pifers had in Mesa and gold Canyon.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, absolutely it was my first time being down at that event, so it was. It was a lot of fun get to see Dwight and all the other guys speak and get to meet a lot of people down there and so, yeah, it was a lot of fun. Really good information that you guys put together for those seminars and, yeah, I think people really enjoyed enjoyed listening to the events and, yeah, I had a lot of really good, really good feedback from people that were there for the first time and people that have been there multiple years. So, yeah, a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, dwight, you know one of Piper's emphasis and strong focus for 25 years now has been education. We are very focused when it comes to educating our clients or prospects so that they can make informed decisions, and whether it's about the process of managing their land, getting the best return that they possibly can, but also being good stewards of the land and then developing that relationship with tenants and then also the process of the valuation of their farms and putting all of that into place and that is very important for all of our clients. So again, you know that's been the hallmark of Piper's for 25 years is the educational side of helping our clients and our prospects.
Speaker 4:Exactly. You know, I think this year, probably more so than any year we've seen and experienced.
Speaker 4:I should say more questions from the audience and we've piqued a lot of interest just in those things that you just talked about. People are interested in about you know what are the valuations, what are the rental rates, what are the services that come with our company. And it's good to see, I mean, people are more comfortable, even in a large crowd, to ask those questions. But even at that we're finding that people it's become more of a social and people stick around, they get to know the staff, they get to know other people that are attending and they're asking those exact questions, which is kind of nice to see. It's not a just come and get the information leave. They want to hang out there and visit with us and that's really become quite fun to see.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, there's a lot that goes into all of this. It's not just somebody comes to Pifers and they give us the indication that they want to sell their land. Well, that just begins the process. That's just step number one. Number two is you have to figure out okay, what is the valuation on that land? What's it been renting for, or maybe they've been farming it? And number three then is okay, what do we do now? How do we go about this process of selling and what's the valuation on it?
Speaker 2:And then the part that a lot of people overlook is the tax implication. And you know Pifers, for years and years we've really have been focused on helping our clients settling in and trying to determine, on a cost basis, what do I have for a potential tax liability. I bought this land, or I inherited it, at $500 an acre. Now I'm selling it at $4,000 an acre. We get into the closing with the title company and all of a sudden you're going oh my goodness, I have a $3,500 per acre capital tax gain here. What's that going to look like for me? But Pifers does all that planning up front more so than any company I know on the planet. I mean, we do a very, very good job with that, helping educate our clients about trying to determine the value at the time to either purchase it or inherit it. That's your basis, and then are you going to ever have a stepped up basis, which usually occurs at the death of the last survivor if you inherited it, whatever it might be? But there are ways to avoid I shouldn't say avoid, but to defer that tax, especially during your lifetime, whether you're doing a 1031 or whatever it might be, into some sort of a real estate investment trust, which is often referred to as a REIT. So, again, those are all the things that you need to take into consideration.
Speaker 2:We had a senior staff meeting earlier this week and one of the things we talked about internally in our company is tax planning. You know those are. You know. It seems to me that you know a lot of people forget about all of that. You need to get into it. Yeah, hey, we all want to pay our fair share of tax, right, and we do.
Speaker 2:But you also want to be prudent about it. You want to be. You want to make sure that whatever you're doing complies with the federal and state tax codes and where you operate, whatever state, whatever state. But also you want to be in a position where you can take advantage of the certain strategies that are available for you. So you can either defer the tax or you can put it in one tax year versus another. I know a lot of times in our situation we're dealing with farmers who may be retiring from farming and they're going to have an equipment sale in November, december. Well then, they can start planning because they're going to have an equipment sale in November, december. Well then they can start planning because they're going. Okay, maybe I'm going to defer the sale of some of my commodities into the next year. And, dwight, you see that on the farmland management side quite often, where again you can take a certain amount of income this year, some expenses this year, and then you can push either or both into the next year.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we hear that a lot, you know. We've even had people say, hey, can I prepay my rent? And of course, you know, on the flip side, of course the owner doesn't want to take the rent early because then that double tax. You know on that. But yeah, they're very creative in how they can. Whether it's buying a piece of machinery, whether it's prepaying for some chemical or fertilizer, you know when, whether it's prepaying for some chemical or fertilizer, you know when we're negotiating rents, you know some of those guys are calling early and saying, hey, I get the fall discount if I get in there and get some of those things prepaid, and so they're looking at those kind of advantages all the time. And so we appreciate that and we try to help out on both sides there.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's really important. We talk to farmers about that a lot. You know, obviously, the landowner if they're retired and they're renting it out or they're an investor. Obviously there's somewhat limited in what they can do as far as expenses. Obviously, you know they can write off or deduct their land management fees, their liability insurance, their property taxes, but other than that, you know they're pretty limited in what they're doing. But the producer has a little bit more flexibility, obviously, just like some businesses do too.
Speaker 2:But I think it's a really important process for Pifers and we've always have been about. Okay, how can we educate our client on the potential tax liability? Because in the era that we live in today, if you've owned land for more than 10, 15, 20 years, you almost certainly almost 99% certainly are going to be subject to some sort of capital gain tax. That liability is going to be there. I mean, we have sold land for people that you know 60, 70 years ago bought land for 12 and a half $15 an acre and now they're selling it for four or $5,000 an acre. Well, it's basically all tax right. So that's important, right, jack?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah. We see that all the time with with our clients and always try to kind of navigate them in the right direction, if we can. I mean, what are your kind of recommended, your main recommended strategies that you recommend?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the best thing to do. Number one is find out where you are, you know, get that basis down, find out what your cost basis is. What do I have into the land? And then what is the estimate? What do you as an auction company one of the top auction companies in America what do you think our land is going to bring on the market? And then our clients can start planning. And you know, personally I've done this and professionally we do it every single day for our clients and I think it gives them a little better idea of okay, this is where I'm going to be.
Speaker 2:Do I need to take some of this as cash and pay the tax, depending on their living circumstance? Because everybody's lot in life is different, right, and you know you can slice and dice this. You don't have to put it all into a 1031 tax deferred exchange. You don't have. You can take maybe part of it, let's say 30% or 50 or whatever. And a lot of times we have multiple owners, right, so there's an undivided ownership interest and some can take that. You know, one person could do the 1031, the deferral and still take cash on part of it, and likewise the other owner can.
Speaker 2:So, again, it kind of depends on what everybody's position is, but I think it's something you really really want to look at and you shouldn't do it flippantly. It's something that you got to really take a lot of time and study this and run your spreadsheets and go through it. Jack, it looks like we're bumping up against the end of the first segment, right? Hey, how did I do? For an old veteran? I'm going to feel like a rookie again. Yeah, pretty good, just like riding a bike right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. You never forget Folks. You're listening to America's Land Auctioneer, Jack Pfeiffer and Dwight Hoffland, with Pifers the CEO and the Vice President of Land Management with us here today. We appreciate them being here today. And then also want to thank all of our sponsors at Pifers Auction Realty and Land Management. If you want to sell your land or equipment or have someone manage your land, get ahold of the team at Pifers. Nobody, nobody, does it better than the team at Pifers. You can reach them at 877-700-4099. They get that right, Jack. We'll be right back after this break.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to America's Land Auctioneer, kevin Pfeiffer, with Pfeiffer's Auction and Realty, along with Jack Pfeiffer, the CEO, and Dwight Hoffman, the Vice President of Land Management. Appreciate both of you, gentlemen, being here today and thanks again for letting me host today.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks for coming in. It's good to have you here.
Speaker 2:You guys are scraping the bottom of the barrel for guests today when you call me and they caught me when I'm in town. So I'm in town for a little while here and boy, what a run of auctions Pfeiffer's has had in March and April. And Dwight, I'm going to want to talk to you in a little bit here about the trend that you're seeing this year now that basically a lot of your clients now what you're managing, 230,000 acres of land, a lot of the tenants now have already paid their rent for the year. I want to talk to you about where the rents are settling in at. But boy, jack, what a run for the Pifers team.
Speaker 2:Well, going all the way back to late January, february and March, but some banner sales in March. One that sticks out for me and you were a big part of that, jack Pfeiffer, you were the lead sales agent on that the Grover Farm in Clay County, probably one of the top three farms we have ever sold in Clay County. You take Norman, clay, wilkin and even Polk County up north, but one of the top three farms we have ever sold. But we really hit some strong numbers on that. But it was a good farm. It warranted the prices that it brought with all those the silty clay base, but then also that really nice heavy loam soil.
Speaker 3:Right, right, yeah, and I think we kind of knew going into that that there was going to be a lot of interest just because of the quality of land that was there, and you know it was 12 different quarters of land too. So it's kind of a an opportunity for for anybody in the area to to expand their operation or for any investor interest to really buy the best of the best, and so, yeah, that that sale ended up going really well, um, really good numbers on that one, and so it was, uh, yeah, a really good day and a great day for the sellers and for the for the pipers team.
Speaker 2:yeah, that you on that one, and so it was, yeah, a really good day and a great day for the sellers and for the, for the Piper's team. Yeah, that you know that one there, that one there. There was some anticipation all winter, people wanting to be a player in that and Piper's offered it high bidder choice. Some went to some producers, some went to an investor, but again I, it just goes to show you what the market's looking for.
Speaker 2:The market is looking for heavy or loam soils, not that fine sandy loam. But if you have anything you know like in the North Dakota side, if you have barn sway of loam or you get out further west that Williams-Wobel's loam soil, you can tell the interest immediately when you walk into that auction room that there's a lot of producers and investors that want to buy land or that type of soil. And this one here had that Glendon loam soil and some of those other strong loamy soils. And, dwight, you see that on the farming side when you're renting out land, you and your farmland managers can almost just tell by looking at a soils map what that land's going gonna rent for, can't you?
Speaker 4:absolutely those. That's when the people really step up to the plate and say, hey, you know what this is going to fit our operation, this is where we want to be. Um, so the competitiveness is, uh, for those pieces, um it, it's unbelievable. You know, the people really come out of the woods. Uh, of course, we always start with our current tenant. You know, we, we don't shop. You know, we've always preached that from day one. You know, unless somebody gives something up, we don't shop them. We go right there and we figure out what the market is, we do our analysis and there we go.
Speaker 2:But soil, the soil health, soil productivity, it still drives everything, even on the pasture line side. It drives it Because I know when you get out west there's a lot of pasture land that has William Bull Bell soil in it too and you're going why shouldn't it be farm? Well, it depends on Some of it could be in a hillier area or maybe it might be some rock or maybe too many wetlands in the area or whatever. But you see a lot of those loam soils you start getting from probably the western edge of Stutsman County all the way to the Montana border and into Montana.
Speaker 4:It makes a big difference whether it's for grazing or whether it's for cropping yep, you know, and and yeah, exactly when you talk about grazing, you know you can see it in the grass, right, if the grass is well managed, that the grazing is well managed. You know that that grass is there day in and day out, even in some tough conditions. So we appreciate that. You know the tenant does and, of course, the cattle do.
Speaker 2:Right, you know, because they're they're coming back around well, you know we talk about this a lot at Pifers. You know, if you're in the cattle business, first and foremost you're in the grazing. You're in the grass business. You got to have good grass yep, grass and Grass and water.
Speaker 4:You know if you got the grass and water, you know you got you're golden. You know that's the demand for good grass is there day in and day out. We get calls almost daily. You know if somebody's got something or somebody's looking for something. We got a whole list of people standing in line looking for good grass.
Speaker 2:Jack. Getting back now to the land auctions here, you know that Grover's Sale in Clay County, you know, almost 2,000 acres, you know the average per crop acre was pushing up to 9,000 an acre. And then I think one of the other more notable ones that you know where I was the auctioneer on this year is the one we just recently had here, a few weeks ago in Lamar County. You know, for the Pressler family, and again, that's all public knowledge because it was a public auction. You know that pushed well over 7,000 per crop acre. But you know again, it had really good soils, no wetland easements, but it had some wetlands here and there. But again, just another indication that you know. You know soils really drove that price and that's a good area for cropping rotation, especially corn, soybeans and wheat.
Speaker 3:Right right, yeah, and over in that Lemoore County area, yeah, the soils in that area have been really good and we've seen some really big results over in that area. I think there's a lot of really good producers in that area that are always looking to expand. So I think that plays a lot of really good producers in that area that are always looking to expand. So I think that plays a really big part into it. But yeah, you see, every year the crops are able to grow in that area, even on wetter years. You know they do a lot of corn and edible beans over in that area too, and so, yeah, that was a really good result and kind of just shows that it's still a really strong market on the best of the best land, yeah, and that one went to a neighboring farmer, which is, you know, they know the land better than anybody.
Speaker 3:Exactly yep, and that always kind of is a testament to how good the land is. You know that buyer said he's been driving past that land all his life. And you know, whenever you have guys like that in the tenant bids on land too, that always just shows you know how good a quality land you're talking about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know the buyer and he's probably salivating and just drooling over that land. For the whole month it was on the market and then all of a sudden it comes up and here you go right Kind of anticipation for sale day. So that was pretty exciting. But you know, another notable sale you know I know you probably have a few too that you thought about. But we recently had one for Brenda Kessler out in Oliver County. I thought that sale went pretty good, you know, pushed $2,000 across the board with pasture and cropland A lot of pasture land on that one. But that was a really good sale as well. And you know, it just seems like when we hit central North Dakota it seems like there's such a fever or fervor for buying land and owning land. You see a lot of that out there. We have an auction out there.
Speaker 3:You walk in the room, there's 100 people there right, right, yeah, especially when you get, yeah, when you get to bismarck and west, it seems like the, the attendance at the auction just skyrockets compared to, compared to out east here and and you know we always have a lot of people watching online. You know that's the nice thing that we have the, the online bidding available for for all of our auctions.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I think it's um, out west they become kind of more of a community event too, and there's a lot of people who, yeah, I think out there's just more people that have an interest in buying. So, whether they're planning on bidding that day or not, you know, they just kind of like to um, uh, get a feel for for what land's going for and you know what, what they could potentially do at that sale or future sales and so but yeah, there definitely seems to be kind of a a broader interest, um, out and out in that part of the, in that part of the state yeah, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2:Well, dwight, you're from out in that area, so you know what it's like to attend a lion auction in central and western north dakota yep, you know, and and jack hit it just right on the nose.
Speaker 4:I mean it's. You know everybody wants it. It becomes a social right. You know, a social event. You see that in machinery auctions too. You know people come and you know, of course you got your, your bidders right, um, but you got people who come and and are watching, uh, maybe getting some ideas, and saying, hey, maybe I got a piece that I want to sell or I have managed, if it's land or machinery, whatever. But you know it's fun to go to those auctions because it's more people don't run out of the room when the sale's over, they stand around and that's where, you know, you really get the meat of it. You know people then are willing to talk about hey, maybe I am interested in selling, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And that's where you really get the meat of it. People then are willing to talk about hey, maybe I am interested in selling Absolutely, and again, that's why Pfeiffer's does the live auctions and we want that environment right. That's the best way to do it. Folks, you're listening to America's Land Auctioneer Dwight Hoffland, vice President of Farmland Management, here in Jack Pfeiffer, the CEO at Pfeiper's. Thank you, guys for being my guests today and thanks for having me here today. Our show every Saturday morning and our podcast on Apple and Spotify are sponsored by the team at Piper's. Nobody does it better when it comes to managing farmland or selling land and equipment than the team at Piper's. Folks, you're listening to? America's Land Auctioneer. We will be right back after this break.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to America's Land Auctioneer, kevin Pfeiffer, your host today, along with Jack Pfeiffer, the CEO at Pfeiffer's Auction and Realty, and Pfeiffer's Land Management, dwight Hoffman, the Vice President of Land Management, with us today. So, biggest question of the year what's the pheasant population going to be like this year, do you think?
Speaker 4:You know it's funny. I just attended a sports showdown in Wisconsin. I can't tell you how many people asked me that same question what? Was your answer I said they're on their way back. You know, you know we need some rain out west. Right, we need some moisture.
Speaker 2:And we don't need a huge, huge stone storm either. We just need some moisture.
Speaker 4:Yep, you know moisture, yep, you know. But you know, last fall, when we were out there, we did see that the population starting to rebound a little bit. Um, you know, we're too early to tell yet, uh, what, how the survival rate was over the winter, although we didn't have much of a winter out there, um, but uh, you know, the proof will be in the pudding here in the next few months, you know, as we get into the um, nesting rate and and that'll tell uh, but I, I think this fall will be looking good. I think what I saw, or have seen over the fall, over the winter, and when we've been out there, uh, visiting, uh, we see birds more probably than I have for quite a while that's awesome.
Speaker 2:I can't wait to get out and hunt this fall Are you actually going to bring your shotgun out this year? I'm going to hunt this year, absolutely. But you got to bring Maverick, you got to bring your, your lab. Jackie, you got to bring old Mav, oh yeah.
Speaker 4:Bring plenty of shells, Kevin, because we've seen you shoot. Yeah, I.
Speaker 2:Don't buy just one box. I'm always digging into Jack's vest for more shells. There you go, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, last year I was able to get out quite a bit. Yeah, it seemed like they had rebounded quite a bit last year. But I think you're right, dwight. I think moisture is going to be the biggest thing in this spring here because, yeah, they had a really nice mild winter, especially in the western part of the state, and even in the state and even um, yeah, even in the central and southeastern part of the state is pretty, pretty mild winter. So, yeah, as long as there's a little bit of moisture out there and not any um big uh hail events or anything or big snowstorms during the nesting season, it should be a should be a great year absolutely yeah, and I think everybody's concerned about about moisture, even in the redder valley, you know.
Speaker 2:I know we had a a little bit of a snow and rain event throughout the region earlier in the week and again it's kind of getting to the point where it's getting to be a big concern for a lot of people, especially from Bismarck West In the valley. Here there's some subsoil moisture Obviously. I think that's going to be fine. But again, big concern, you know they always say Western north dakota is what? Two weeks away from a drought anyhow, right dwight you, you farmed and ranched out there for many, many years and well, you're a third generation or fourth generation farmer, so you know what it's like out there. But again, I think I think it's a big concern through. You know I talked to farmers all the way from illinois to wisconsin to iowa and everybody's got a little bit of concern this year because it was pretty dry winter really for the most part it was all over.
Speaker 4:You know, I, um, like I said, I was just down in Wisconsin here this past weekend for a sports show, um, and, and those guys too, I mean, although it was raining, cats and dogs when I left down there, uh, which looked good, although a lot of it was ice, um, but uh it, and you're right, I mean, it doesn't matter where you go, we're a long ways from harvest right, and so you've got to get the crop in and then get it off, and so the proof will be in the pudding here this year.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely, absolutely. No doubt about it. Well, jack, you know we still got another segment after this one here. But you know Piper's has some big auctions coming up here in the next couple of weeks. You know Piper's has some big auctions coming up here in the next couple of weeks. You know we start getting into. You know next week's going to be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:I'm really looking forward to being in central North Dakota. I call Carrington kind of central North Dakota, I guess it's more east central or whatever. But you know we're going to be in Carrington for Jim and Maria Harmon's equipment auction. It's a retirement auction, jim Harmon and Maria. They have a beautiful farm there and Dwight, your team, manages their farm now and Jim and Maria are retiring after a long successful career in farming. They've been personal friends of mine for a long time. I know them really well, but they've got a great lineup of equipment coming. We're going to be there on April 10th at Harmon's. We're all going to be there on the 9th because we have an auction in Harvey for a farmland division and then we're going to be over at Harmon's the rest of that day, really looking forward to being out there in Foster County.
Speaker 2:Their farm is just a few miles north of the city of Carrington and near the experiment station out there, so again, it's going to be a lot of fun out there. Great lineup of equipment. Jim always did a great job of farming one of the better farmers I've ever known and then his equipment is really nice. He's just done a really good job taking care of his equipment. But you know what it comes a time. You know it's time to retire and I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision for Jim and Maria to hang it up. But we feel honored that we're managing that farm going forward in the future. It's a really neat farm. A lot of irrigated farmland on there too, but really lays nice, doesn't it, dwight.
Speaker 4:It does. It's probably one of the nicer ones. We manage with the irrigation. It's contiguous. For the most part it's just a very nice unit with grain storage and the hole works right there. It doesn't cut much better than that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it really doesn't. You know, foster County, you know, at one time used to be the number one producing county in the region for soybeans, you know, and again, it's really. They really have a good combination of cropland and some areas some good pasture land too, but it's predominantly cropland in that area. You have the NDSU experiment station over there too. You know, for years Blaine Schatz ran that did a phenomenal job, him and his entire staff, probably one of the better experiment stations in the entire country. They've done a phenomenal job over there, so, and Jim's farm is only a couple of miles from there. I think some of his land might even abut up to some of the land that the experiment station owns. But again, folks, april 10th the Pifers team. We're going to be selling equipment for Jim and Maria Harmon on their retirement sale April 10th in Carrington, north Dakota. So it'll be fun, won't it, jack?
Speaker 3:uh in Carrington, North Dakota. So it'll be fine, won't it, jack? Oh, yeah, yep, that'll be a really nice sale and kind of the that'll start off our, our big run of of uh spring equipment sales here but, yeah, that's a really nice one.
Speaker 3:They've got a nice Fent tractor on there, a nice John Deere 8,400 and a John Deere um 8,360R and some nice tillage and uh and and uh harvest equipment and some nice trucks on there. So, yeah, that'll be a really nice lineup. And then, following that, we've got the Central Dakota Spring Auction in Steele, north Dakota and that'll be a live and online sale. That'll be kind of our big spring consignment sale out of that office.
Speaker 2:And then, yeah, we've got and how about we're going to Drake and Berthold too, and those are great sales.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the Lee Retirement Auction in Berthold, that'll be a really nice sale. And then, yeah, the Shield Farm Retirement Auction in Drake, north Dakota. Yeah, this is probably the nicest lineup of private equipment sales that we've had for this time of year.
Speaker 2:I would agree that Lee's sale in Berthold. You can highlight some of them. I don't want to take your thunder away here, but you look at the pictures and some of that stuff up at least you're like man, this is going to be a really good auction and you know, if you're in a position where you need equipment like this, you price it out new. Then you go, look at this and you're going why wouldn't I want to attend this auction?
Speaker 3:Right, right, yeah, there's some serious horsepower on that sale. There's a John Deere 9630T tractor on there, let's see an 8630, 4440. Let's see a 8335R tractor, a 9620R tractor. So yeah, just some really nice John Deere tractors on that sale. And then, yeah, some really nice tillage equipment on that one too. Planting equipment, yeah, really nice, uh, tillage equipment on that one too.
Speaker 2:And um planting equipment. Yeah, really nice, right, I mean 1770 nt john deere planter.
Speaker 3:That looks really nice and yeah, I know the guys have been been working hard to get all these, all these sales lined up, so it'll be uh exciting once the once, the big run starts.
Speaker 2:Every time I call our equipment division and the guys are either at jim harman's or they're up at the Lee's in Berthold or Sheely's over at Drake. They're like, wow, this equipment is so nice. We're going to have turnouts at these auctions. Like I said, harmon and Carrington and Lee up at Berthold and Sheely at Drake and the Sheely one at Drake that's going to be, and we're going to wing after that, but the Drake sale up there, that's going to be an incredible auction too. That'll be a lot of fun. I plan on attending all of those, by the way. Jack, oh, really.
Speaker 3:Yeah, if anybody wants my autograph up there, I'll be there. Oh yeah, no, that'll be fun. Yeah, I kind of love this time of year with the spring equipment sales. It's always fun doing the live sales and getting out on site, and it's nice when the weather kind of breaks and you're able to start some of these. So, yeah, these will be some really great events and we'll have online bidding available too, of course, and I imagine a lot of this equipment will be kind of going all over the country.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, calving season. We're right in the heart and soul of calving, right in the meat of it right now. Calving season Planting season is right around the corner. I mean, we're turning the corner here, dwight.
Speaker 4:Yep, in fact, if you get out west, we've already seen some people starting to throw down some fertilizer and some light tillage, you know, and so they got the itch. They're going to get going here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not going to be long and you know, for those who got their anhydrous ammonia last fall, they're going to be itching to get in and those who didn't, they're going to be ready to go and I know there's still a lot of frost out there. But you know, really we're knocking on the door for 2025 planning.
Speaker 4:Yep, yep, you know, and I talked to some people in southern Wisconsin here this past weekend and you get into Iowa, they're moving already.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah, folks, you're listening to America's Land Auction here. We've got about a minute left in this segment. But this last winter was a tough one. We lost Freddy Berger, a friend of ours. You know Fred Berger was probably one of the great ones that we do business with day in and day out. You know Fred Berger passed away a couple months ago and a big cattle buyer, probably one of the more knowledgeable cattle buyers and feedlot operators North Dakota has ever known. I mean, when it comes to running a feedlot. I know back in the old days he knocked door scarred. He was a big feedlot operator up in the Northwood area. But you know Freddy Berger, he knew it better than anybody. I mean, he lived and breathed it. But he lived and breathed his community and his family. He was truly a great friend and a great American and you know we're going to miss seeing him at our auctions out in western North Dakota.
Speaker 4:Absolutely, and what a giving man you know. He was always, like you said, participating in the community, recognized for many awards in the communities, and so definitely he'll be missed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of the great ones. It was an honor and a privilege to know him and work with him. Uh, we sold him a number of farms for the over the years and ranches and he and he bought some from us too. So we had a. We had them on both sides, but uh, but more importantly, he was a good friend and we're going to miss Freddie Folks, you're listening to America's Land Auctioneer.
Speaker 2:I'm Kevin Pfeiffer, with Dwight Hoffman and Jack Pfeiffer here at Pfeiffer's. If you want anybody to manage your land or sell your land and equipment, nobody, absolutely nobody, does it better than the team at Pfeiffer's. Folks, you're listening to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm Kevin Pfeiffer, your host today, joined by Jack Pfeiffer, the CEO at Pfeiffer's Auction Realty, and Dwight Hoffland, the Vice President of Land Management at Pfeiffer's. Dwight, we don't have a lot of time left today. We got about nine minutes left here today and we haven't really had a chance to talk to you much about cash, rents and where we are. With that.
Speaker 2:I know a lot of people that own land kind of want to know where we are. I think on the farmland side it's pretty clear we're in record territory for valuations. I mean our Piper's Land Auctions. Our entire team is just totally knocking it out of the park. This year we have we've not seen these kind of land prices ever. I mean on a pasture land all time highs. Cropland, I mean not always, but most instances. We're hitting record numbers. If you want to sell farmland or pasture land right now cropland, pasture land get a hold of a Piper's team member. You've never seen a more opportune time.
Speaker 2:These prices are in uncharted territory and they're kind of to me. They're surprising not shocking, but they're surprising, given some of the headwinds in American agriculture today and where interest rates are and all of that. But again, there's a lot of interest in American agriculture all over the country, whether they're farm producers or investors, and I do not see that waning at all. I see that picking up, getting more momentum and steam as we round the corner now into second quarter of this year and look into the third and fourth quarter this year. There's going to be a lot of buyers in the market and they're going to pay a price, right, dwight. And on the land rent side, what did you guys see? Now, I know that you know, at Pfeiffer's you collect a lot of the rent, all of the rent, up front in the spring. That's about done now. What did you see for cash rents comparatively over the last couple of years?
Speaker 4:You know, this year, when we sat down last fall, we started evaluating where we should be and where rents should go. You know, for the most part. You know everybody knows what the markets are doing right now. Right, and it's not something that we run and ring the bell because it is a little depressed, but for the most part you know our rents. If they were in the market we held them steady. We've seen very little slippage. We saw a little bit of a slip in the southern Minnesota area. Wisconsin stayed strong. North Dakota South Dakota stayed strong.
Speaker 4:We see a huge demand for grass. You know cattle market's strong, so there's a huge demand for grass and they're stepping up to the plate and they're getting it done, you know. But rents for the most part going into 2025, you know we're pretty much are all set and we're going into 2026, well, see what happens. We'll see if we have a drought in in areas. That'll help determine what's going to help. And we'll see what the farm bill does. We got a new farm bill on the rise. We'll have to see how that plays out and we'll have to see what the commodity market's doing right. So there's so many variables coming into next the fall of 2025, but right now, you know there's still a demand. We get people calling daily looking for ground, whether it's crop ground or pasture. That really is still kind of the driving force.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you see a strong buyer positioning out there right now for cropland and pasture land. How about in the CRP side, jack the Conservation Reserve Program land? Are we still seeing a demand out there for buyers on that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think there is. You know, I've got a couple pieces that are coming up that have some CRP on them and I think there's a lot of buyers who are specifically looking for ground like that, whether it's stuff that they see, as you know, potential to put it back into production and potentially tile it or something like that, or even, you know, to break some of it up and use it as kind of a hunting piece with some good habitat on there, then break the rest of it up and get some good income on it. And yeah, it'll be interesting to see, with the new farm bill kind of, how that changes the CRP landscape and see what kind of incentives are in there for that. But yeah, there's definitely. Yeah, it seems like there's specific buyers that are always looking for that kind of ground.
Speaker 2:You know, dwight, I know you guys manage a lot of land that has CRP on it too. Are you or recommendations are you giving your landowners now where they might be in a position there where they have to renew it or consider renewing it in the crp, or taking it out and put it back into cropping production, or or even put a fence around it, put it into pasture land?
Speaker 4:right.
Speaker 4:You know, this past fall we had some that came out and unfortunately, you know, or fortunately either, however you look at it, you know, um, some of those weren't accepted because of the grasses that have been in too long right, and so we had to either take it out or put it in pasture. Those owners decided to take it out. We're going to try to farm it for a few years and then probably see what the rates are if they keep it. You know, keep it out or put it back in. So there's a lot of variables we look at. We look at the soil types, right, salinity is a big deal, right. And so there's a reason some of that's been put in. There's a reason some of it probably should have never been in.
Speaker 4:But you know, again, I talked about being in Wisconsin this weekend we looked at a couple of CRP contracts in southern Wisconsin. In Wisconsin this weekend we looked at a couple CRP contracts in southern Wisconsin. The CRP contract was for $275 an acre. Well, that kind of sets the rate for the rent, right. If you can get that on a, that weighs in on the whole scenario too. And that doesn't mean it's in there, I mean that's all over. And when we look at that now, right now, without a farm builder not accepting any applications yet, but it'll be interesting to see how that all plays out coming into the fall.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we only got a couple of minutes left. I'm going to ask you both some final thoughts on where we are in American agriculture as we go into the second quarter here. I guess my thoughts are right now is you know if you're running a farm and a ranch or a business or whatever? You know there's so much chatter out there right now and so much discourse and all this narrative in America, especially in politics, about interest rates and tariffs and all of the wars that are taking place right now.
Speaker 2:I think the best thing that people can do is just stay focused on running your farm and ranch. Just do the best you can Raise the best crops. You can Raise the best cattle herd you possibly can. Zero in on that. All this other stuff's going to just. You know it matters at some point, but don't look at it. What's going to happen in the next 30 days? All of this is a long-term play. American agriculture has always been the backbone of American agriculture. More and more people than ever before want to be a part of American agriculture. Just do the best job you can, day in and day out, running your farm and your ranch, and you're going to be rewarded for it. There's no doubt in my mind, and we've seen that over the course of the last 10 years. So stay the course, be optimistic, be faithful. You know be prudent, be smart and you know give back to your communities as much as you can. Those are my final thoughts for today.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I think that's great advice. Yeah for sure. And yeah, I think kind of our overall attitude the last couple years really, we've been kind of cautiously optimistic, even with interest rates and everything else going on in the world, and I think that served us really well. You know having that attitude and you know having that attitude and you know it's been a really good run for us the past few years and you know prices have remained pretty strong and you know we've seen have a lot of good relationships out there with a lot of people. So it's been yeah, it's been a good couple of years.
Speaker 2:I would agree a hundred percent, dwight.
Speaker 4:Yep, I'll weigh in on that both with what Kevin and Jack had both stated. You know we visit with a lot of landowners. We visit with a lot of tenants. There's still positiveness out there in the ag world. Everybody's still cautiously optimistic but overall they're glad they're either a landowner or are able to farm the land that they have and they embrace. You know, we all know farming is a next year's industry, right, and they embrace it. And you know we just we're glad that we're part of that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. Yep. My advice put politics aside, you know, be the best neighbor you can, be the best friend you can, and you know, know, stay focused on what you have to do, on your operation, and you are going to be successful. There's no doubt about it. And I think here at pifers, you know, we've always have taken that attitude uh, we want to. The hallmark at pifers is we want to focus on our clients and do the best we can. Uh, yeah, we want to get a market share or the best price we can, top dollar, whatever it might be. But that's always been our focus. So appreciate it. Dwight, thank you for being here. Vice president of farmland management at pipers. Dwight hoffman, jack piper, the ceo at pipers.
Speaker 3:Thank you, jack yeah, thank you for uh for filling in for me today.
Speaker 2:It's been nice, well, hey it feels kind of good to be here and I like the new studio you guys have built here at pipers. So we used to always have to run over to the flag or another radio station and record our show, so it's been great. I love the studio. Folks, if you ever get a chance, come to Pfeiffer's studio in Moorhead, Minnesota. Folks, you have been listening to America's Land Auctioneer Jack Pfeiffer and Dwight Hufflin have been my guests. I'm Kevin Pfeiffer, America's land auctioneer. A lot of auctions coming up and I'm looking forward to seeing you folks at an upcoming Pfeiffer's auction this spring. Thank you for being with us. We'll look forward to being with you again next week.