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
From Drones To Lease Bids: How Land Managers Protect Farm Value
Ready to see how modern land management turns uncertainty into clarity and fair rent? We sit down with Tyler Berby and Gavin Hlubeck from our land management team to unpack a practical, tech-enabled approach that helps non-operating owners protect assets and gives tenants a fair shot at acres. From first contact to year-end reporting, we walk through the full process in plain language.
We start with the essentials: twice-annual inspections that document crop stage, wet spots, access, alkali, and improvements. Drones now play a starring role, capturing aerial photos and video that reveal issues a ground pass can miss—fence breaks, weed patches, washouts—and speeding up decisions on repairs. Those visuals flow into comprehensive reports that owners can share with family, complete with notes and, when available, yield details that show how fields actually performed.
When it’s time to set or reset rent, we break down how data and local knowledge meet. Portfolio comparables, soil productivity indexes, access, and nearby results guide pricing that’s realistic rather than wishful. And when owners want open-market discovery, a lease bid auction can surface true demand. After targeted marketing and written bids, we run a private oral round—each bidder on a separate phone line to preserve anonymity and neighborly respect. Results have consistently landed 20–40 percent above county averages, a meaningful difference for owners on fixed incomes.
We also look ahead. With many baby boomer farmers retiring and heirs living out of state, managed acres are growing. Demand from operators remains strong, and our county-based waiting lists help match the right tenant to the right quarter quickly. Through shifting commodity prices and tighter margins, our approach stays steady: protect the land, maintain strong relationships, and make every decision visible and defensible.
If you own farmland or want to rent more acres, this conversation offers a clear playbook you can use today. Subscribe, share with a fellow landowner or operator, and leave a review to tell us what you want to hear next.
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Contact the team at Pifer's
Welcome to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm your host this week, Christian Miller. I'm joined by Tyler Burby of our land management division. And Gavin. Gavin, tell me how to pronounce your last name.
SPEAKER_00:Lubick. H-L-U-B-E-K, just the H S I aunt.
SPEAKER_02:Lubick. Okay. Gavin Lubick and Tyler Burby are joining me on today's show. Gentlemen, welcome to another show of America's Land Auctioneer.
SPEAKER_03:Good morning.
SPEAKER_02:Thanks for having us.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Yeah, we got some things to cover here. We are talking land management today. It's uh it's another beautiful wintry day here today in in North Dakota and northern Minnesota, but we've had uh we're getting off of the growing season. I think harvest season is is wrapping up a little bit and and we're gonna talk some land management today. But I just wanted to start the show. Tyler, why don't you start kind of by introducing yourself and maybe talking about your role a little bit at Pifers, and then we'll have Gavin do the same thing and and introduce ourselves to the audience here.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, uh yeah. So my name is Tyler Burby. Um I'm from Perm, Minnesota. Uh my family, uh my mom is from the Manoman area, uh my dad is from the Ada area. I lived there for the first couple years of my life, and then we moved to uh uh perm and that's where I grew up, went to middle school, um, high school. Um, and after that, I went to MSUM, Minnesota State University, Moorhead, uh, where I got my degree in business administration. Uh from there, I pretty much just jumped role to role in management. So, right out of college, I actually managed the anytime fitness um over here in North Fargo. So I worked in management there. After that, I worked in management at Amazon for about two years. And then I kind of want to do something different. Uh, growing up, uh, I I, you know, my entire family, they farm, they've been around farming their whole life, so I've been exposed to it. And um, I got to help out when I could, and it's something that's been always you know interesting to me, and it's something that's always uh kind of had a little bit of passion for. So um I reached out to Dwight Hoffman, which is our current uh senior VP of land management. He's the one that kind of started uh the land management side of the branch. Uh reached out to him. Uh somehow he was interested enough to interview me, which was really cool, uh, which is a fun experience. He actually brought me to his house for an interview, which I have never done in my entire life. That was really cool. He's just like, hey, come on over. So I was like, all right, so I came over, uh, kind of have an interview with him, went awesome. And now I've been at Piper's for a little over two years now. Um, and the main area that I service is uh central North Dakota, so right around the Jamestown area, up to Carrington, um, you know, down to this uh South Dakota border, and then pretty much back to Fargo. So I service everything. Um, I do manage land all across North Dakota and actually a little bit of Minnesota, but that's kind of my my main area.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, Gavin, go ahead, jump on in here and uh introduce yourself as well.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, my name is Gavin Lubick. I'm one of the land managers here at Piffers as well. I manage farmland from about Lakota to Grenora, North Dakota, all the way to the Canadian border, so pretty much the north and northwestern part of North Dakota. Um I'm originally from Minoman, Minnesota, where I grew up and worked out on our family farm for about I think since seventh grade. Um and I still help out today. So just kind of growing up kind of made me want to pursue a degree in agriculture. So I went to Agri or I went to North Dakota State University and graduated with a degree in agri business, and I just graduated last winter actually, and was just looking for an opportunity close to home here and found that Piffers and it was a perfect fit. So here I am today.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Yeah, and I think as a as a company, Pipers is a is deeply rooted in agriculture. I I think that uh the majority of our staff have have some connection to agriculture, and and uh I think that when people come around our Piffers staff, they see our passion for agriculture. And I think there's uh your guys' story are a great testament to that, um, of of wanting to pursue agriculture and and continue to work in a field that's familiar to you and and related to agriculture. Um Tyler, I know on on the leadership side, we talked about Dwight a little bit, and I know there's um a little changing of the tide with uh with Dwight uh stepping back a little bit, and it sounds like you're stepping up a little bit more into that leadership role. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. Uh everything's kind of in the works right now, so nothing's necessarily set in stone. But yeah, Dwight, he, you know, that's most of the people are gonna know Dwight's name, which he's been amazing. He's built land management from the ground up. He's literally grew it from zero uh manageable acres to and actually in a new record. This year actually, we just estimated right around 255,000 acres that we manage across, you know, many, several different states. Um and so now we're kind of phasing into 2026, 2027. Um, we're talking about him kind of stepping um maybe into more of a business developer role, and then me, I'll be moving more into the director role. Pretty much just boots on the ground, I'll be managing the team, uh, and then he'll be more of an upper level kind of directing things and seeing over things, but I'll be yeah, kind of moving into that. Um, but I'm excited for the opportunity. Uh very, very honored that he he's you know given me the opportunity to do this, and we have such an amazing team this year. Uh, we got currently we have eight land managers, including Dwight and myself. Uh we have four in the Fargo Moorehead area, we have two um in South Dakota, one in Bismarck, and then one in Wisconsin as well. So it's we got a full staff, full team. Uh the guys are all firing all cylinders. It's it's pretty awesome. So I'm I'm very excited for this opportunity.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Yeah, it sounds like there's uh big changes coming in the in the leadership role for for Pifers. And uh Gavin, you've you've just started with the land management team, correct? This is something that's kind of a new role for you.
SPEAKER_00:Is that correct? Yep. I just started about six months ago, so coming up on the on the six-month mark here.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Give me a little bit about tell me a little bit about your first impressions with Pipers, because here's when I started with the company as an auctioneer, I it took me a little bit to adapt to the pace of how we operate at Pipers. It is a large, we cover a large uh area as far as auctions and and land management goes. Just tell me a little bit about kind of your when you started with Pipers and what that initial um what your first couple months were like.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I actually did some field visits a couple years ago with Tyler and kind of he kind of showed me around how kind of an idea of how the field inspections went. Um and then that's when I kind of was really interested in and I applied here. Uh just going around, I actually cover a huge area from Lakota to the Montana border, so all the way up to the Canadian border, and it gets to be a lot of driving, but I mean it's it's really fun kind of seeing how the how different the land is and stuff like that. So it's it's been a fun journey so far.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely, and I'm sure you guys have been pretty busy even up to this point. I I know in our upcoming segments we're gonna go into a little bit more detail of what land management covers, but I know that uh you you guys are pretty much busy year-round. Um, even at this time of year, there's still some year-end reports going on. And um, Tyler, are you guys still out in the in the field at all at this point? Or kind of what's the status with your team at this point?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so right, we pretty much all wrapped up our our field inspections uh right around the end of October, roughly. That's usually when we like to finish things, and then after that, usually what we do is we pretty much go right into the negotiations. Um, each guy has enormous playful negotiations. I had about right around 55 or so. I know, Gavin, you're probably right around the 20 or so mark. Um, so that was kind of what we're doing even right now, and then we're actually um right now we're mainly focusing on uh our year and reporting. So, what exactly do we see in our spring inspection, our fall inspection? Do we have any concerns about our owner's lands? Are there anything that we can improve on? Um, or maybe even just help the tenant in any way that we can. So those are the that's kind of the main thing that we're focused on right now um as come coming to an area.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely, absolutely, and I know that uh we have I know we have a large team. We're we're covering. Um, can you tell our listeners a little bit about the states that we cover for land management? I know that we have a pretty expansive team.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so across the you know the 255, roughly thousand acres that we manage, mainly it's in uh North Dakota. Next to that would be um Second would be Minnesota, um, Wisconsin, Iowa, um, South Dakota, and then also Montana. So we have our hands in in several different states, and we're always trying to expand. Um, you know, any any chance we can, we're going to seminars in different states, meeting new people. Um, but right now we have a really good, a nice foothold in the Midwest, and we're just trying to continue to expand.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Yeah, I think we're in uh I think our our the scenery of agriculture is kind of at a crossroads a little bit right now, and I know that with our baby boomer generation, I can only imagine uh that there will be an increased demand for land management in the upcoming years as that age group uh gets close to retirement and they're going to uh start seeking some solutions on how to manage their assets. And I know that our land management team is is a great uh proponent of of land management, and they do a great job in assisting our clients to be comp confident and comfortable in having their land managed with our Piffers team. I tell you what, guys, we're getting close to the end of our first segment here. We're we have about 30 seconds left on our first segment. And uh we you guys have both agreed to stick around for three more segments, so we look forward to hearing more on land management. I also want to thank our sponsor on this week's show, Pipers Auctioneers, Realty and Land Management. Make sure you give them a call at 877-700-4099 for your free consultation. We'll be right back after this short break. I'm joined by my guest, Tyler Burby and Gavin Lubeck. Welcome back to another segment, guys. Good morning, good morning. Thanks for having us. Hey, you bet. We're talking all things land management today, Tyler, and we uh we touched a little bit about uh the area that we cover and and uh some of the the details about you and and Gavin's background. Um let's talk a little bit about what land management is and the service that we provide for land managers um or for our clients. What does that look like if somebody is wondering about land management and what's their beginning steps to start that process?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that yeah, that's a question we get a lot is what exactly is land management? Um the way I like to explain it in kind of simple terms is we're pretty much rental property managers, but for agriculture. Um nowadays, kind of like we were talking in the last segment, you know, a lot of people are you don't necessarily uh you know first generation, second generation, removed from farming and maybe they just inherited some land and they're not sure exactly what to do with it, or maybe they just retired and they want to start a succession plan. Um that's what we help with. You know, we're get setting them up for the next generation so their kids know exactly what to do with the land and they have a source of income without doing anything. Um but basically our service are mainly the negotiations, uh field inspections, working directly with the tenant. So what we do is every year, spring and fall, we go out and inspect the land, see exactly what's going on, meet with the tenant if we need to. Um, if they have issues, we can help them with that. But our biggest thing is to make sure the owner is uh not worried about anything, right? If they're in a different state, maybe if they don't know what's going on, we want to make sure that they have the comfort that everything is being taken care of. Or on the other spectrum, I actually have a lot of landowners that they want to be involved, they want to know what's going on. Um, we can do either one, you know, we we invite all that. Um, you know, they also get to kind of see to you know, our management portfolio, which is 250,000 acres, we give them insight into exactly you know what their land's worth. Um so in the future, you know, if they do want to take the next step uh for selling or anything like that, we can actually, you know, refer them to our sales team or even just let them know exactly what it's worth. Um so yeah, it's it's a vast amount of things that we do. Um and uh and it's it's continuing, it's growing. Uh, we're doing new things. For example, uh a couple years ago or about a year and a half ago, we introduced drones into our daily um inspections. So every time we go out there, we're flying a drone, we're inspecting our land, seeing what's going on, and maybe seeing things that we don't exactly see you know on the ground. You know, my first year, I didn't have a drone. Um, you know, I was on the ground looking each side walking the field. Um it's amazing the difference you can see using a drone, being able to see all the different uh you know issues that you might not be able to see, relaying that to your tenant, um, relaying that to your owner so they understand what's going on. Um, you know, and maybe there's there's things, for example, like uh in pasture, you know, if there's an issue with the fence, I'm able to fly across, check all the fences. Um, and just the tenant's been saying, hey, we we need to fix fences, and I can just literally grab that footage, show the owner, and they say, Yep, absolutely, let's let's start with that. So um, yeah, there's a lot of advancement in land management, and um, we're very excited for the future.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. And are are you you're we have a lot of young guys joining the team? It seems like there's a new wave coming on to Pipers here. Um, are these young guys getting trained on how to run drones and is that a standard across the company?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, um, I think coming into uh the mid 2025 and 26, it's pretty much standard. All of our land managers, uh maybe except one, uh uh knows how to fly a drone or is at least open to using it. And and uh yeah, so it's it's gonna be a really cool tool. Um, a lot of the younger guys coming in, I mean it's like playing a video game. These guys are experts at it. They literally can just grab it, plug and play and go. I was showing Gavin um probably four or five months ago, and he was flying it as good, if not better than me. So that was really cool to see. Um, and the guys are just loving it, embracing it. And so are the owners, um, especially in our year and reports, showing them photos of their land that they may haven't seen for a long time and showing different views of it. Uh, it's really, it's a really cool experience.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. And Gavin, from your perspective, are there things that you see in the field that you might not see otherwise when you're out there with your drone? Are there things that you've specific instances that where you've caught things that you may not have caught if you had been if you had been on foot? Have you seen uh an advantage to flying the drone?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, for sure. You kind of get a bird's eye view of everything. So a lot of times if you are just on ground on on foot, um, you're not gonna be walking all the way across like a field or a pasture, and you might not be able to pick up that. So having the drone is definitely a huge advantage to see if there's something that that needs to be fixed or anything that needs improvements.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. And do you ever uh spot any uh weeds or anything with the drone at all, or is it more so just fences and and those sort of things, or are are you giving the client recommendations or the tenant recommendations how to spray the ground or things like that uh based on what you're seeing with the drone?
SPEAKER_00:Or yeah, the the camera is very good on the on the drones. It can you can see things from very far away, and it you can even zoom it in and zoom it up close on on weeds and stuff like that, and fences, whatever. Um, I think it's it's definitely a huge improvement to the to the land management.
SPEAKER_02:So absolutely. I know in years past, and there's still a lot of guys doing it, but you'd see everybody loaded up with a four-wheeler, and that's kind of how they were uh getting around, and and uh, you know, I've heard from from ranchers especially, I would say that there's some of the pasture land uh can be actually be pretty difficult to get across with four-wheelers and things like that. You get a lot of gullies and that sort of thing, washouts, and some of that, I think some of that ground, it might be in pasture for a reason, and getting across it is uh can be challenging at times. So I can imagine that the drones have been a big asset to you guys.
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, I I know part of the drone, um, part of having drones is getting footage of the crop, right? And so if uh if a client does sign up some land with you guys and you go out and you do your initial um visit and they do decide to um move forward with the land management team, you guys pro do you provide some of that footage or photos then at their year-end report? Are they seeing kind of what you're gathering with the drone?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, so every landowner that that works with us, they'll get a comprehensive report um of all of our inspections. So we have a minimum of two inspections every year. Uh so spring and fall, and then any time in between, you know, especially if something's going on, like maybe a fence repair or we're doing some sort of improvement, they're gonna get um inspection notes for all that. And then we do at the end of the year. So right now that's kind of what we're working on is a compiled report of all those inspections. So that can come from, you know, in the spring, where they're we're looking at, you know, what growth of stage the you know, the the crop is in. Um What uh what did they plant? Um, are the areas that we uh might have a little bit of concern, maybe with with alkali, maybe some uh drowned out areas, water issues, which is a huge thing in North Dakota in the past you know four or five years with water. And then in fall, um, how does the crop look? Um if the tenants are willing to share their yields, we'll also have that in reports, and then all of um kind of the photos we can share with the owner if they would like. But what we do is usually we'll pick our favorite photos from the spring and fall and have them on each parcel just so they can kind of get a click snip. Um, I do have a lot of my owners that request all the photos. So what I'll do is I usually take every visit around 30 to 40 photos. Um, I'll send that to them. And then also if they request videos, um, maybe with their old farm side or or uh areas that they want me to film, I also do that for them as well. So yeah, kind of a cool comprehensive report. Um, you know, everything that we've seen, any concerns we have, any improvements that we've made, um, and also anything the tenant shares. So most of our tenants are awesome. Um, they're they're you know, they respect the land and they also um aren't generous enough to share that information about their yields. Because a lot, you know, a lot of farmers they hold that to the chest, and rightfully so. So the fact that they're willing to share that with the owners, which is they're the only people that are able to see those, um, they get to see that and see how uh well their land is doing and how well they're treating it.
SPEAKER_02:So absolutely a lot of a lot of pride in in being a landowner and and having your land managed correctly. And I think that's where our Pipers team does an exceptional job at land management, folks. We are talking all things land management today. We're getting down to the end of our second segment. We want to thank Pipers Auction Realty and Land Management for sponsoring today's show, and we'll be right back after this short break. Welcome back to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm Christian Miller, your host on this week's show, and I am joined by Tyler Burby and Gavin Lubeck of Pipers Land Management. Gentlemen, welcome back to our third segment.
SPEAKER_03:Good morning.
SPEAKER_02:We're uh we're just getting we're just diving into a topic here. We were talking about what it looks like when somebody signs up with Pifers, and and let's jump back into that on this third segment, and we'll kind of go from the beginning. They they reach out to Tyler, either you or one of our other agents, and they they describe kind of what they have that they would like managed. And what what is your next step? Do you send somebody out there to meet with them?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, uh, usually what we do is we like face-to-face. It's always I I think uh North Dakotans they love face-to-face, and so do we. We just want to see exactly you know your passion, their relationship with the land. Um sometimes they're not able to do that, so we'll we'll zoom or Skype them in and talk about that. But uh first of what we do is you know, we'll send someone initial, you know, someone calls and say, hey, we were interested in land management. What we'll do right away is we'll go out to the land, um, we'll usually drone it, kind of see exactly what we're dealing with, uh, any issues, or or you know, just take as many notes as we can. Um then we'll do is we'll have a second meeting, a follow-up meeting with them and ask them exactly what they're looking for. So, for example, you know, if they're talking about um we have a quarter that we want you to take over, um, we're trying to do a succession plan with our kids, we're gonna pass it down. Um, but we just want it in good care. And also we just want market value. So basically that's what we'll do is we'll just say, hey, they'll let us know where the rent is at. We'll talk about the market, you know, the average that we're seeing. Um, and then we'll give them a few options. You know, if they want to continue, you know, our number one priority is always to, you know, if they want to continue working with that tenant, they had a good relationship, that's gonna be our number one thing. We want to make sure that they will always get the option, especially if they've been farming it for 20, 30 years, they're most likely gonna know what's best for that land. And if they have a good relationship, then we're just gonna have negotiation with that and then find what's fair. Um, you know, and if there's another option, maybe they want to move, go elsewhere with the tenant. Um, you know, we can do something else, which is is pretty popular now. It's called a least bid auction. Um, similar to auctioning, uh, it essentially what we do is we we'll do marketing on their land for about two or three weeks. So put it all in the local newspapers, um, ag weekly, any any websites, our website, um, and we'll have a run for about two or three weeks. Everyone in the area that's interested will send in a written bid. So we'll have written bids usually due right on a Friday, and then the following Monday or Tuesday we'll have an oral bidding. So, what that'll look like is we'll take the five top five or ten or so, depending on um what the owners would like, into an oral bidding. Um, every bidder will have an individual agent on the phone with them. So everything is is uh completely you know secluded, it's in secrecy, so no one will know who you are, no one knows what you're bidding, um, and you have the confidence to bid that way. We've seen amazing success with that. I think in the last two months with the least bid auction, we we've seen anywhere from 20 to even 40% increases on the county averages, um, even now in this market, which is is pretty pretty amazing stuff. So, yeah, we have a lot of options. Um, we you know, we do whatever the owner would like us to do, and we respect respect their wishes.
SPEAKER_02:So absolutely, and and talk a little bit more about when you have this oral bid, Tyler. Are you taking the entire pool that has submitted a written bid, or are you choosing the top five? Or or how how does that how does that work?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so usually how it works is um, you know, the one I'll just give an example, the one I had in Macintosh County, we had right around 25 or so bidders. Um, what I'll do is I'll send the entire list to the owners and I'll kind of pick out a suggested range of you know where we should have the cutoff. It's usually that in one uh you know, a dollar increment, anything above that's gonna make it. And then they'll have the choice to choose, you know, hey, do we want to take 10? Do we want to take eight? Um, once we find that number, uh the oral bidding day, we'll give all those guys a call and we'll start the oral bidding process. So basically how that was that will work is the top guy will be the last guy to go, the bottom bid will be the first guy to go, and then we'll kind of jump into increments anywhere from you know one to two dollars. Um and we have different rules for each one, which are kind of explained on the website beforehand, but it's a very cool experience. Um, we've had really good results, kind of like I was saying before. Um, and yeah, it's been it's been an awesome experience.
SPEAKER_02:That's wonderful to hear. And and so on the day where you take the oral bids, you would have Gavin and the rest of your team, and they would all be on the phone with a bidder at that time. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_03:Yep, that's correct. Yeah, and the reason why we do that is we, you know, we we juggle with the idea of doing it in person, kind of like a live auction, but it's not always the best results, especially if you know you could be bidding against a neighbor, and a lot of guys, you know, they don't want to do that, they respect their neighbors, and to have it on the phone, no one knows who's bidding on what. Um, we we tend to see a lot better results, and then also, you know, no one can really get mad at each other because no one really knows, right? Sure. Um, so it's that's kind of we do that more for the tenant, just so or or the potential tenant, just so they can have the confidence to bid without stepping on anyone's toes.
SPEAKER_02:So absolutely, it's the same as an auction, right? We represent the seller, we represent the the landowner that what we do, we want to do what's in their best interest. And I think uh a part, a big thing to mention here with the oral bid and and some of the results that you've had, um you know we we have a lot of landowners who are on a fixed income. Um they're they're elderly people on a fixed income, and a lot of them are depending on this land rent to cover their essentials at home. And I think with the way our economy has been trending, uh us young people, we we feel that the squeeze as well at the price of groceries, the price of gas, uh inflation has put some pressure on the American people here in the last couple of years. And I don't think our our senior landowners are exempt from that. Um, I think these results, it's it's huge for some of these landowners. Um, are you seeing instances, Tyler? You you mentioned a 20-30 percent increase. I I know the results. Talk a little bit about your results that you've got in the past couple weeks. You've had a few of these least bid auctions, correct?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. So I actually had uh one in um Macintosh County about two weeks ago. Um you know it went extremely well. It went from, you know, I don't want to give exact numbers, but uh the county average, you know, right around 120. It went 25 percent, 25 to 30 percent above that. So which was was a really cool experience. Um, you know, especially for a lot of, you know, you I know you spoke about, you know, these these guys are the owners, this is kind of their asset. You know, a lot of our owners are relying on this maybe to retire, or maybe they're part of the younger generation, and it it's part of their assets. So they just want to make sure that they're getting what it's worth. Um, so that's why they come to us. You know, we can give that insight uh and show them exactly what it's worth, and and hopefully we can yeah, fit figure something out. But I also had one in Wilkins County and in Minnesota that was a huge success. Um it went for a right around 30% above that county's average, which was amazing. We had a huge turnout. Um, you know, we had guys you know from 20, 30 miles away that were bidding on it, and it was a really cool experience. Um, so yeah, yeah, and uh you know that's depending on what the owner wants to do, we just have many options. So if that's a route they want to do, it it shows time and time again that it shows excellent results.
SPEAKER_02:So absolutely. And are you experiencing the same thing, Gavin, with your clients? Are you seeing your landowners that they're pleased with the results? Have you had any lease bid auctions this fall as well?
SPEAKER_00:Or yeah, um, I've had two so far this year. Um, it doesn't really happen too often, it's kind of one of those things that it just happens, and it's totally up to the to the landowner to decide if they want to do that. But I had two of them, one in Nelson County and then another one in Williams County, and they both showed about 25% increases from the average. So, yeah, they provided extra excellent results.
SPEAKER_02:That's wonderful to hear. I I know our clients look to us as a sounding board. Tyler, correct me if I have this wrong, but you said 255,000 acres under management, is that correct?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that is correct. Yep, yeah, that's that's one of our all-time rise.
SPEAKER_02:So absolutely. And so we have a good our our land management team has a good grasp on on what the numbers should be. I I think we're probably in the forefront for what land rent can bring.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Um, and I can also touch on that a little bit. So, you know, touching on the, you know, with with since we have such a vast amount of land that we manage, um, basically how our process looks is you know, you know, when someone signs on with us and we're kind of trying to do evaluations on rent and seeing where we should be, that's the first thing we'll do is we'll check our our entire portfolio, and most of the time we'll have something either right next to it or maybe a couple miles away. Um, and then our second tool we use is agridata. So once we have a potential client that wants to work with us, we'll find our land that's around that. We'll check the soil PIs to see, you know, okay, how this person's getting this, but that soil's at this, and this is at this, how the productivity of the both, um, you know, how do those compare? Access, um, with a lot of alkali areas. Um, you know, those are all things we take in consideration. Everything's not a one-to-one, but it definitely gives us a good range. And most of the time it's pretty accurate. So we have kind of something to go off and let the landowner know exactly, you know, maybe they undermark it. Do we have some work? Um, just and set their expectations.
SPEAKER_02:So absolutely. And you know, that's a great point you make there, Tyler. And I'm sure Gavin uh could touch on this as well. The farm ground in North Dakota ranges. Um, just because you have a quarter and right across the road, you might have an uh another quarter, and it might not be as productive as as what some of your other ground is. I know there's a pretty good range in North Dakota. Um, and so do is your team taking into consideration uh soil index, the productivity, and and those types of things when they're going to increase on or ask for an increase on land rent?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that is one of the things we we look at. You know, um, like you said, I mean, I have many, many pieces of of land that I look at that this guy across the road is you know, he's having amazing uh yields, and the guy across the road, he's he's not. And you know, there's so many, so many obstacles, so many things that could uh could you know potentially get in the way of those yields. And we take everything into consideration. So especially when we're talking to the owner, we're we're setting uh realistic expectations for them. Um, because that's a question we get all the time. You know, hey, so-and-so is getting this much across, or I've heard this, or they sold the land for this across the road. And it's like you said, it's not always a one-to-one. So um helping them understand, you know, exactly where we think it's gonna be, and um, yeah, obviously, setting expectations for them.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. We're talking all things land management today with Tyler Burby and Gavin Blue Beck. We'll be right back after this short break. Welcome back to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm your host this week, Christian Miller. We're on our final segment here, segment four, and I have our guests Tyler Burby and Gavin Lubeck on today of the Pipers land management team. Gentlemen, we're down to our our final segment here. Let's do it. Absolutely, you bet. We were talking a little bit about the increase in or what it looks like when a landowner wants to increase their land rent or the factors that go into that. Um, the other thing I wanted to talk a little bit about today is are you expecting land rent to hold strong even during this economic period we're having? You know, crop price hasn't been the best. I know that it's put a little bit of a squeeze on some of our operators. How what's your outlook uh for the future, Tyler? Can you give us a little insight?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so this year, I guess um at Piper's, yeah, I'll start with this year and then I'll kind of talk about what I think. This year, as as of Piffers uh portfolio, it's pretty much, I would say 98% of our land has either stayed the same, or you know, if it's maybe a newer account, they've they've gone up a little bit. But across the board, just due to the commodity prices and the way that where our land is in the market, it's it's pretty much stay the same. So going into 2026, I think if there's not a change, we'll we most likely will be in a similar situation. Um, but we'll kind of have to see. If if there is a little bit of increase, we might have uh uh a little bit better year. But as a way it's going right now, it I would assume it's gonna be very similar. Um, we'll most likely have to be talking to our tenants and figuring out something just to make them make it work for them, right? Because we represent the owner, but we're also an advocate for the farmer. So, you know, if they're in a in a tight spot and you know, these they they need to to work with us, we're always willing to do that as long as the the owner's willing to do that as well.
SPEAKER_02:So absolutely. And are are you seeing optimism out there, Gavin? Uh, as you talk to the tenants, or are you uh are you seeing optimism out there? Does it seem like like operators are going to continue to look for ground to rent? Do you anticipate the demand to stay strong for the 2026 crop year?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, not every day you get the opportunity to to rent out land. So I think a lot of guys are always looking for land if they don't have enough already. But yeah, I've been seeing a lot of guys come to me and ask to get on our waiting list. We have a waiting list that you can rent on per county, so a lot of guys have reached out to me about that.
SPEAKER_02:You know, that's an interesting topic. It's good to hear the optimism, and it's good to hear that there's continued demand there. I think everybody's keeping an eye on that. Um that's a good point you bring up there, Gavin. Um, tell us a little bit more about that. There's a waiting list for each county. So let's say there is an operator out there that's listening to our show, and he uh would like to add more ground to his portfolio, his rental portfolio. Is he able to call you or Tyler and and uh request to be put on that list and choose his county? Can you tell us more about that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we just pretty much they they kind of tell us what counties they're interested in with to find land on, and did they just give us our their contact information and then we'll write it down on our spreadsheet, and when stuff comes up, we'll we'll let them know.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, and is this a situation? Let's say you have a pool of 10 guys that are interested in this quarter, do you give them a chance to submit an oral bid or a written bid, or how how do you choose, or is it the first person on the list?
SPEAKER_00:Um depending on the situation, if it is a lease bid auction, we'll we'll let those guys know. But if it's somebody just kind of looking for a tenant, we'll we'll reach out to the one who who submitted it first. So we'll go to the top of the list.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, sure. And as long as they're agreeable to the rent price that the landowner would like or that that you've recommended to the landowner, they will have the first opportunity at renting that ground then. Correct. That's a great, I think that's a great tool for people out there listening that are looking to rent more farm ground. Don't hesitate to reach out to Tyler Burby or Gavin Lubeck and and get your name on that list. That's something that I was not familiar with uh up until now. And so I think that's a great, great opportunity for people that are looking. Tyler, can you give us a little more insight uh what you're looking for in 2026? Are you are you anticipating that more people will have ground that they'll want to manage? And and tell us a little bit. We're getting it, we're getting close to the new year's. We're almost to 2026. So I'm yeah, I'm kind of itching for a uh a future uh forecast here on what you're thinking.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I I think this year has been one of the biggest increases that we've had. I think that'll continue to 2026. Um, I think right now we're in a a you know, a weird switch where you know a lot of the older farm farmers they're retiring, maybe they're passing it down to their kids, or a lot of the times maybe the kids went off to college and they don't want to farm anymore, but they are inheriting it, or maybe the farmer doesn't want to farm anymore. So we're seeing a lot of that. Um, I think this year alone, I we probably got you know 10 to 20 new owners that are exactly that, maybe retire. Farmers, or even maybe someone that has just inherited land and they actually just they don't know what to do with it. Maybe they don't live here anymore. Um, and I think we're in this, you know, interesting time where that's gonna continue to happen. So I think moving into 2026, we'll have a lot of uh new land that's gonna come up for rent and a lot of new opportunities for a lot of the the new farmers or maybe uh established farmers, but we're definitely gonna have a lot of opportunities for for some farmers. So I'm excited.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. I I agree with you. I think we're seeing um we're we're seeing the baby boomer generation get to retirement age, and a lot of their children, they saw how hard mom and dad worked to make a living, and they decided they'd rather go to college and they meet somebody from out of state, they end up married, and next thing you know, they're two, three states away with a family. And I think in our would you agree with me that if if you're not in the ag world day in and day out, it's very tough to communicate with a tenant and and to know what what is a good price and how to justify asking for that land rent.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, absolutely, yep. Uh it's but I have a lot of old farmers that tell me all the time, they're like, wow, I I'm super happy you guys are taking over because I'm just not up with the times. I don't know what's going on. And then also they're just kind of surprised of where the market is. You know, I have a guy that retired you know five or six years ago, and the prices for rent then to now have just changed astronomically. So they're very appreciative of you know the insight that we give um as as a land management company. So yeah, I I'm excited to see kind of what happens.
SPEAKER_02:That's great to hear. I I tell you what, Tyler, we're we're getting close to the end of our of our final segment here. I want to give people the opportunity to reach out to you and and Gavin. Do you want to start um give people your contact information and just how how can they get a hold of you if they have questions?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, uh on our website we have a toll-free number that you can reach out and call. We also have um all our agents' uh contact information on there. So if at any point you want to reach out to anyone, um all those guys will be able to help you. Or if you want to call in, we have our our our office, our head office in Moorhead here that has our number there. Uh you can reach out to me. Um, so my area, like I was saying, uh in the first segment is Central North Dakota. So my number is 218-850-0807. That's my personal phone number. So if anyone wants to reach out um at any time, I can do that. And then Gavin as well, so he he can also kind of share his contact information.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, mine is uh my email is g-h-l-b-e-k at pipers.com, and then my personal cell is 218-902-0597. Yeah, I just manage the the northern North Dakota part.
SPEAKER_02:So absolutely. Thank you, Tyler Burby and Gavin Lubeck, for being on with me today on the Pipers land management team and for making time out of your busy schedule to be here with me this morning and to do the show. I sure appreciate it. Absolutely, yeah. Thanks for having us, Christian. I think. Hey, you bet we're the Pipers team is looking forward to 2026. I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and happy holidays and a happy new year. We're we're all looking forward to 2026 and meeting new clients, and and we appreciate the business from everybody. We wish you a happy holidays, and we want to thank our sponsor, Pipers Auction Realty and Land Management, for sponsoring today's show. We'll see you next week on America's Land Auction.