Category: Farm Management

  • 2024 Prospective Plantings for Southern Ag Today States

    2024 Prospective Plantings for Southern Ag Today States

    The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released its annual Prospective Plantings report on March 28, 2024.  This report typically isn’t as exciting as college basketball’s March Madness, but the Prospective Plantings report does supply estimates of acreage that affects the agricultural markets and provides the basis for numerous discussions for the upcoming growing season. 

    What does the 2024 Prospective Plantings report show for the Southern Ag Today States? The following tables show the prospective planting acreage for the Southeastern states, with the 2023 planted acres and the predicted 2024 acres (and 2024 acres as a percentage of the 2023 acres). The states are listed in rank from most to least 2024 acres.

    Table 1 indicates the corn acres that are projected for the Southeastern states. Oklahoma is the only southern state that shows an increase in 2024 corn acres while Arkansas and Mississippi are predicted to plant about 25% fewer acres. While the Southeastern states are expected to plant about 10% of the U.S. corn acres, this is 27.67% of the reduction in U.S.2024 corn acres. While some of the lost corn acres in the Southeast are shifted to soybean and cotton, there are some acres that are not reflected in the 2024 major crop plantings.

    Overall, the U.S. is predicted to plant 90 million acres in 2024. This is five percent lower than 2023 acres and slightly lower than industry expectations, resulting in a sixteen-cent rally for December 2024 corn futures prices.

    Table 1.  2023 Acres and Prospective Plantings for 2024, Corn (1,000 acres) 
     
    2023
    2024 Prospective
    Acres% of 2023
    Texas2,5002,10084
    Kentucky1,6001,55097
    Tennessee94093099
    N. Carolina95089094
    Arkansas85062073
    Mississippi79059075
    Louisiana70056080
    Virginia49547095
    Georgia48541085
    Oklahoma390400103
    Alabama33031094
    S. Carolina36530082
    Florida908089
    U.S.94,64190,03695

    Upland Cotton prospective plantings are included in Table 2. U.S. Cotton acres are expected to be four percent higher than in 2023. Half of the Southeastern states have double-digit percentage increases, and the remaining states are near the previous year’s cotton acres.

    Table 2. 2023 Acres and Prospective Plantings for 2024, Upland Cotton (1,000 acres) 
     
    2023
    2024 Prospective
    Acres% of 2023
    Texas5,5505,50099
    Georgia1,1101,10099
    Arkansas510540106
    Mississippi400500125
    Oklahoma420500119
    Alabama380430113
    N. Carolina380390103
    Tennessee265300113
    S. Carolina210240114
    Louisiana120140117
    Florida8990101
    Virginia818099
    U.S.10,08310,470104

    Peanut acres are shown in Table 3. Overall, peanut acres across the nation are predicted to remain the same as in 2023. South Carolina and Mississippi have the highest percentage increase in acres, while Texas and Virginia have largest percentage peanut decrease in acres. 

    Table 3. 2023 Acres and Prospective Plantings for 2024, Peanut (1,000 acres) 
     
    2023
    2024 Prospective
    Acres% of 2023
    Georgia775820106
    Alabama175180103
    Florida160170106
    Texas22516071
    N. Carolina12412097
    S. Carolina7785110
    Arkansas3535100
    Virginia292483
    Mississippi1820111
    Oklahoma161594
    U.S.1,6451,651100

    Table 4 illustrates that soybean acres for 2024 is up three percent in the U.S.  Oklahoma has the largest increase in predicted acres, with Texas losing the largest percentage of acres in 2024.

    Table 4. 2023 Acres and Prospective Plantings for 2024, Soybean (1,000 acres) 
     20232024 Prospective
    Acres% of 2023
    Arkansas2,9803,100104
    Mississippi2,1802,250103
    Kentucky1,8301,950107
    N. Carolina1,6401,650101
    Tennessee1,6001,650103
    Louisiana1,0301,150112
    Virginia580630109
    Oklahoma460550120
    S. Carolina39535089
    Alabama35032091
    Georgia160160100
    Texas12510080
    U.S.83,60086,510103

    It should be noted that that these are only intended plantings, and the actual acreage will vary from these estimates. Weather, commodity prices, input prices, and availability will have an impact on the acres that get planted.


    Source: https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/x633f100h/31980870j/fj237r16t/pspl0324.pdf


    Runge, Max. “2024 Prospective Plantings for Southern Ag Today States.” Southern Ag Today 4(15.3). April 10, 2024. Permalink

  • Tax Considerations of Income and Expenses from Nontimber Forest Products

    Tax Considerations of Income and Expenses from Nontimber Forest Products

    It’s that time of year again! Let’s hope you won’t be like Homer Simpson, scrambling to put numbers on the federal income tax return, rushing to the post office, and tossing the envelope in the mail bin at the last minute on Tax Day. While many of us only think about taxes during tax season, for private forest landowners, every forest management decision could have tax implications. Understanding the tax consequences, taking advantage of the preferential tax provisions, and integrating tax planning into forest management decisions are crucial.  

    Forest landowners may generate income not only from timber but also from various nontimber forest products. Timber income generally qualifies for the preferential capital gains tax treatment if the holding period requirement is met. However, is income from nontimber forest products treated similarly to timber income for federal income tax purposes? This is the topic of today’s article. 

    If you are interested in timber taxes, please refer to the timber tax tips for 2023: https://www.timbertax.org/publications/fs/taxtips/TaxTip2023.pdf.

    Defining nontimber forest products for tax purposes

    Nontimber forest products generally refer to goods harvested or derived from forests for purposes other than timber. They may include tops, limbs, twigs, branches, roots, tubers, bulbs, leaves, bark, fruits, nuts, tree sap, mushrooms, and other fungi, and in some instances, entire plants. 

    Note that the IRS definition of timber differs from the term used by a forester. For tax purposes, timber generally means standing trees suitable for commercial production of wood products. Under certain tax provisions (e.g., gain or loss from the disposition of timber under Section 631), timber also includes Christmas trees (i.e., evergreen trees aged six years or older when severed from roots and sold for ornamental purposes). Therefore, nontimber forest products, for tax purposes, have a broader scope than their definition in forestry. 

    Character of income from nontimber forest products

    Not all types of income are treated equally for tax purposes. The character of income may determine whether it’s subject to certain taxes (e.g., self-employment tax, net investment income tax), which loss deduction rules to follow, the allowable amount of certain deductions, and the applicable tax rate. 

    With a few exceptions, net profits from the sale of most nontimber forest products generally are taxable as ordinary income. If the income is derived from your material participation in a trade or business (including a farming business), it is subject to self-employment tax. 

    Sales of the following nontimber forest products normally generate ordinary income:

    • Logging residues left behind after a timber harvest and sold separately from the original timber sale. Products such as pulpwood from tops and limbs, wood mulch, wood chips, and firewood may be made from these logging residues. While income from the original timber harvest might qualify as capital gains, income from the sale of these byproducts is ordinary income. The sale of tree stumps is normally considered ordinary income (see below for an exception). 
    • Christmas trees harvested before reaching six years of age.
    • Products collected from trees, such as pine straw, maple sap, walnut sap, evergreen boughs, pinecones, fruits, and nuts.
    • Living trees, such as seedlings, balled-and-burlapped trees, living ornamental trees, and living fruit or nut trees. 
    • Products from annual plants and mushrooms in forests, including mosses, lichens, vines, herbs, wildflowers, ramps, beargrass, and mushrooms. 
    • Products derived from some perennial plants but not the final harvest. For example, some ginseng growers sell the leaves and stems of the plants annually before harvesting the roots. 

    On the other hand, long-term capital gains could be generated in these cases:

    • The sale of tree stumps from cutover land purchased years ago as an investment by a taxpayer not in the timber or tree stump business. 
    • The final harvest sale of cultivated perennial plants. Examples include American ginseng, black cohosh, and goldenseal. Income from the sale of these products’ roots can qualify as capital gains.

    Reporting expenses and income from nontimber forest products

    Depending on the extent of your involvement in the production of nontimber forest products, your nontimber activities  may qualify as a trade or business. Especially, forest farming operations is inherently a business because it is the intentional and intensive management of forested lands to produce nontimber products and is . 

    Ordinary and necessary expenses related to the gathering, growing, processing, or marketing of nontimber forest products are deductible. Nontimber forest products producers who qualify as material participants in a trade or business should report the deductible expenses on Form 1040, Schedule C or F, as appropriate. Expenses incurred to establish forest perennials are capital expenses. They can be recorded in a capital account and deducted from the gross proceeds when the plants are harvested and sold. Material participants in a trade or business should report ordinary income from nontimber forest products on Schedule C or F (Form 1040), as appropriate, and report capital gains on Form 4797.

    Forest owners classified as investors should report ordinary income from nontimber forest products as “Other income” on Form 1040, Schedule 1, and report capital gains on Form 8949 and Schedule D (Form 1040).  Prior to 2018, investors report deductible expenses as miscellaneous itemized deductions on IRS Form 1040, Schedule A, where they will be subject to the 2 percent of adjusted gross income floor. However, the miscellaneous itemized deductions are suspended for 2018-2025 because of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

    Conclusions

    Many private forest landowners generate income from nontimber forest products. While the income serves as a supplement to timber income for some forest landowners, for others, it may be their primary source of income. With a few exceptions, most of the income from nontimber forest products is taxable as ordinary income for federal income tax purposes. Ordinary and necessary expenses associated with the production of nontimber forest products are deductible. It is critical to keep records of these expenses to support your profit motive and substantiate your deductions. 

    This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide financial, tax, or legal advice. Please consult your own tax advisor concerning your particular tax situation.


    Li, Yanshu. “Tax Considerations of Income and Expenses from Nontimber Forest Products.Southern Ag Today 4(14.3). April 3, 2024. Permalink

  • Census Reveals Tobacco Farms Disappearing from Southern Agriculture

    Census Reveals Tobacco Farms Disappearing from Southern Agriculture

    The southern region in the United States has been well known for several unique crops, including cotton, rice, peanuts, and tobacco.  However, the latest Census data reveal that farms growing tobacco are disappearing from the landscape of southern agriculture. 

    Tobacco has had a storied history in the formation of this nation as it quickly became the most important cash crop in Colonial America, serving as the leading export commodity and a form of currency for the emerging nation.  Over the years, tobacco remained a valuable crop for several Southern states, which enabled many small family farms to survive. 

    A federal tobacco program emerged as part of the New Deal in the 1930s to further protect small tobacco farms consisting of supply controls and eventually price supports.  Increased global competition from lower-cost producers in South America and Africa ultimately led to the demise of the program over time and eventually the 2004 passage of The Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act, or more commonly known as the “tobacco buyout.”

    This act provided nearly $10 billion to purchase tobacco quotas and provide compensation to growers to transition to a market-based economy.  The landmark legislation was expected to result in a significant concentration of tobacco farms, a geographic shift in production to the lowest cost regions, and larger farms to benefit from economies of scale.

    This historic policy action, followed by two decades of increasing cost of labor, heightened government regulation, and declining consumer demand for tobacco products has led to depressed exports, growing imports, and arguably the most significant structural change in the history of U.S. agriculture.

    According to the Ag Census, the number of U.S. farms growing tobacco has declined from 56,977 farms in 2002 to 2,987 farms in 2022 – a loss of more than 95% since the passage of the tobacco buyout twenty years ago.

    While there was speculation that the elimination of tobacco quotas would lead to U.S. tobacco production moving out of the southern region to other areas, nearly 80% of U.S. farms growing tobacco today remain in southern states.

    Kentucky has historically been the state with the largest number of tobacco farms, with nearly 60,000 (of its 90,000) farms growing tobacco in the early 1990s compared to roughly half that number in 2002 and only 984 recorded in the 2022 Ag Census. However, Kentucky’s share has declined from 42% of U.S. tobacco farms in 2017 to 33% in 2022. North Carolina remains number two in tobacco farms, with 822 farms, followed by Pennsylvania (377), Tennessee (241), and Virginia (173). 

    As anticipated, acres of tobacco production per farm following the tobacco buyout has increased significantly – increasing from an average of 7.5 acres in 2002 to 69.5 acres in 2022, with the largest tobacco farms remaining in the flue-cured tobacco regions of North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and South Carolina where production averages more than 100 tobacco acres per farm.

    The relative importance of tobacco in southern agriculture has declined considerably.  Today, tobacco accounts for less than 3% of Kentucky’s annual ag cash receipts compared to averaging 25% during the 1990s.  For North Carolina, the nation’s second largest tobacco producing state, tobacco has fallen from 15% of ag cash receipts in the 1990s to only 3% today.  

    Table 1. Changes in the Number of Tobacco Farms and Average Size (2022 vs 2002)

    Tobacco Farms% Change Average Size (acres)
    20022022  20022022
    Alabama80-100% 24.9 –
    Florida11514-88% 33.5114.6
    Georgia82244-95% 30.5138.0
    Kentucky29,237984-97% 3.844.9
    Louisiana61-83% 50.2 –
    Mississippi70-100% 22.6 –
    North Carolina7,850822-90% 21.4141.4
    South Carolina87348-95% 34.6119.4
    Tennessee8,206241-97% 4.451.4
    Virginia4,184173-96% 7.273.0
           
    Total Southern States51,3082,327-95% 7.985.6
           
    Other U.S. States5,669660-88% 4.213.0
           
    U.S. Total56,9772,987-95% 7.569.5
    Source:  Ag Census/USDA

    Snell, Will . “Census Reveals Tobacco Farms Disappearing from Southern Agriculture.Southern Ag Today 4(13.3). March 27, 2024. Permalink

  • Planting Date: The Need for Speed

    Planting Date: The Need for Speed

    Planting date is one of the most crucial aspects of crop production. The ability to get a crop in the ground in a timely manner can be the difference between making a profit or a loss. As shown in Figure 1, the optimal planting date for soybeans grown in Mississippi would be around April 20th (Julian Day 110). Every day before April 20th reduces yield by 0.51bu/ac, and for every day after, yield decreases by 0.39bu/ac. The goal should be to plant as many acres around this date as possible. One way to do that is by increasing planting speed. To illustrate the impact that planting speed can have on yield, costs, and net returns we can compare a traditional mechanical planter planting at 5 mph to a precision planter planting at 9 mph. 

    First, for simplicity’s sake, we will assume a 2,000-acre soybean farm. Using the standard machine cost calculation formulas, a 12-row 38-in row-spacing mechanical planter is going to plant 15 acres per hour (planting at 5 mph), and the same size precision planter is going to plant 26.9 acres per hour (planting at 9 mph). This means a mechanical planter would take 133.6 hours to plant 2,000 acres and a precision planter would only take 74.2 hours. We could just use those numbers to determine when to start planting but that doesn’t consider the fact that weather can prevent farmers from actually getting in the field. The USDA NASS collects data on how many days in a given week are suitable for fieldwork. For this example, we use the average days suitable for fieldwork from 2019-2023 in Mississippi. Table 1 shows the yield, planter speed, and days suitable for fieldwork by week. 

    One drawback to the precision planter is that it is going to cost more to purchase. A mechanical planter costs around $106,000, and the same size precision planter will be about $150,000. However, because of increased planting speed which results in fuel efficiency and labor savings, the operating cost per acre is actually less for the precision planter at $15.81/acre compared to $19.20/ac for the mechanical planter. For more information on machine cost calculations, see: http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/farm-machinery-cost-calculations

    Putting all this together and some back-of-the-napkin math, the optimal start date for the mechanical planter would be April 9th (Julian 99) and April 14th (Julian 104) for the precision planter (Table 2). A precision planter would reduce the days of planting from start to finish from 23 days to 13 days and thus increase yield by 1.2 bu/ac. Assuming a soybean price of $12.00/bu, this would increase revenue by $14.07/ac. Costs would be decreased by $3.38/ac leading to an increase in net returns of $17.45/ac. Effectively, the additional cost of the precision planter would pay for itself in 2 years for a 2,000-acre farm.

    Now, this analysis is pretty basic and makes some broad assumptions. It is important to look at your state’s planting date yield data to determine when is optimal for you to plant. Larger farms are going to benefit from higher planting speeds more than smaller farms. It also assumes that there is no yield loss when planting faster. Preliminary data at Mississippi State shows there isn’t a yield hit, but this could vary depending on your situation. Nevertheless, the basic idea is that by planting faster a producer could capture higher yields. So be a maverick and bump that cruise speed up.

    Figure 1. Effect of Planting Date on Soybean Yield in Mississippi from Batemen et al. (2020)

    Table 1. Weekly comparison between mechanical and precision planter for Mississippi
    PeriodAverage of Soybean Yield bu/acDays Suitable for Fieldwork 2019-2023Hours per Day Suitable for FarmingaMechanical Planter Acres Per DayPrecision Planter Acres Per Day
    Week 1259.12.94.974.1132.8
    Week 1362.63.45.886.9155.9
    Week 1466.23.15.480.7144.8
    Week 1569.82.84.871.5128.2
    Week 1671.53.56.191.0163.2
    Week 1768.73.96.7100.8180.8
    Week 1865.94.67.8117.3210.3
    Week 1963.24.06.8101.8182.6
    Week 2060.55.49.2137.8247.2
    Week 2157.75.79.7145.5261.0
    Week 2255.05.69.5143.0256.4

    References

    Bateman, N.R., Catchot, A.L., Gore, J., Cook, D.R., Musser, F.R., & Irby, J.T. (2020). Effects of Planting Date for Soybean Growth, Development, and Yield in the Southern USA. Agronomy. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10040596

    Johnson, J., & Mills, B.E. (2023). Farm Machinery Cost Calculations. Mississippi State University Extension P3543. Available at: http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/farm-machinery-cost-calculations

    USDA NASS. (2024). Days Suitable for Fieldwork. Available at: https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/


    Mills, Brian, Mike Mulvaney, Wes Lowe, and Oluwaseyi Olomitutu. “Planting Date: The Need for Speed. Southern Ag Today 4(12.3). March 20, 2024. Permalink

  • Tax Reporting for Crop Insurance

    Tax Reporting for Crop Insurance

    With tax season in full swing, knowing how to properly report crop insurance premiums and indemnities is important to ensure accurate tax reporting. Many producers have CPAs or accounting firms that manage their finances and taxes. However, understanding how to report crop insurance proceeds is a great on-farm skill when maintaining accurate financial records.

    The Schedule F, “Profit and Loss from Farming,” is an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) form that allows producers to report net profit (or losses) from their agricultural production (IRS, 2022). The Schedule F shows income and expenses pertaining to principal farming activities, such as grain and livestock sold, any income from cooperatives, program payments, and federal crop insurance distributions. Crop insurance proceeds (or indemnities) must be included on a Schedule F as farm income regardless of how much proceeds a producer receives to cover the producer premium. Importantly, crop insurance proceeds can be reported in several ways depending on when you sell your grain. 

    1. Reporting crop insurance indemnities – not deferred

    Assume a producer received $50,000 in crop insurance indemnities this year and would receive a 1099-MISC form from the crop insurance company confirming that indemnity amount. The producer’s normal business practice is to sell their crop in the same year as production (i.e., crops produced in 2023 are sold in 2023). Therefore, the producer must report the indemnity on the tax return for the year the crop was sold and produced. The $50,000 indemnity would be reported on lines 6a and 6b.  

    Figure 1. Reporting a $50,000 Crop Insurance Indemnity

    1. Reporting crop insurance indemnities – deferred

    Again, assume a producer received $50,000 in crop insurance indemnities this year. However, the producer normally reports income from crops in a following tax year under their normal business practices. Therefore, the producer can defer the crop insurance indemnities to next year. The $50,000 would again be reported on line 6a. But now, the producer checks the box on line 6c to defer the indemnity until next year (Figure 2). To defer, a producer must submit a statement containing 1) producer’s name and address, 2) declaration that the producer is making the deferral, 3) identifying crop and damage information, 4) declaration that crop income is normally included in the following year, and 5) name of the insurance carrier. For more information on how to compile this statement, please consult a tax professional.

    Now, let’s assume the producer deferred a $30,000 indemnity in 2022 and must report it on their 2023 taxes (Figure 3). The producer would follow Figure 2 and then report the $30,000 on line 6d. 

    Figure 2. Deferring a $50,000 Crop Insurance Indemnity

    Figure 3. Reporting a Deferred Crop Insurance Indemnity from 2022

    1. Reporting crop insurance premiums

    Lastly, the premium paid is reported as expense on the Schedule F. The full amount of premium paid must be reported regardless of how much indemnities cover the premium cost. In this case, premiums reduce Schedule F profit and lessens the tax burden on their farming enterprise. Assume a producer paid a total of $40,000 in premiums for 2023, they would report this amount on Schedule F, Part II, line 20, effectively reducing taxable Schedule F profit by $40,000. 

    Figure 4. Reporting a $40,000 Crop Insurance Premium

    It’s worth noting that we are not tax accountants, and every farm’s situation is unique. Therefore, you should always consult with a tax professional when preparing your farm’s taxes. 

    References

    Internal Revenue Service. (2023, July 13). About Schedule F (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Farming. Retrieved September 25, 2023, from https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-schedule-f-form-1040.

    Loy, R. and Biram, H.D. (2023). Cultivating Financial Security: A Guide on Farm Finances, Taxes, and Crop Insurance. University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service Fact Sheet No. FSA80.

    Tidgen, K.A. (2019). Special Rule for Taxing Crop Insurance and Disaster Payments. Iowa State University Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation. Retrieved September 25, 2023, from https://www.calt.iastate.edu/blogpost/special-rule-taxing-crop-insurance-and-disaster-payments.


    Loy, Ryan, and Hunter Biram. “Tax Reporting for Crop Insurance.Southern Ag Today 4(11.3). March 13, 2024. Permalink