The Agricultural Law and Tax Report

Overview

 

Starting Monday May 3, I am hosting a daily 2-minute program, The Agricultural Law and Tax Report on farm radio stations nationwide and on SiriusXM 147.  The purpose of each report is to educate farmers and ranchers and rural landowners on the unique legal and tax issues that they are often faced with.  Each program explains what the law is on a particular topic, and how actual court cases and IRS rulings have been decided based on that law, and what the application is to a farming or ranching operation.

 

Topical Coverage

 

Some of the topics that I will address include:

 

Contract Issues - (auction sales; farm leases; hunting leases; grain and livestock sale contracts; types of clauses to protect the farmer-seller; remedies if there is a breach).

 

Ag Financing Issues - (collateral issues; rules governing lenders and farm borrowers; foreclosure issues and Farmers’ Home (FSA); redemption rights for farmland; agricultural liens).

 

Agricultural Bankruptcy - (Chapter 12 farm bankruptcy issues).

 

Farm Income Tax - (handling USDA/CCC loans; government payments; crop insurance proceeds; pre-paying expenses; deferred payment contracts; commodity trading income; easement payments; crop and livestock share rental income).

 

Real Property Issues - (fences and boundaries; buying and selling farmland; recoveries from settlements and court judgments (such as the Roundup litigation, etc.)).

 

Farm Estate Planning - (types of title ownership; disruption of family farm if there is no will or trust; planning approaches to facilitate keeping the farm in the family; federal estate tax planning; gifting of farm assets; treating off-farm and on-farm heirs fairly).

 

Liability Issues - (food product liability issues (labeling and disparagement laws); liability for trespassers and others on the property; trespassing dog laws; nuisance law; employer's responsibility for farm employees; animal diseases; fence laws).

 

Criminal Law Issues - (what can the government search without a warrant; cruelty to animal laws; government programs and criminal liability; environmental liability for farmers and ranchers).

 

Water Law Issues - (types of water law systems; use of surface water for crops and livestock; use of subsurface water; boundary disputes).

 

The initial sponsor is First State Bank headquartered in Lincoln, NE.  If you are interested in also becoming a sponsor, please let me know.

 

Many thanks to John Mellencamp and Sony Music Publishing Co. for the "bumper" music that accompanies each show. And...special thanks to Donn Teske.

 

Check with your local farm radio station to see if they are carrying The Agricultural Law and Tax Report. If not, please call your local station and request it, and let me know

 

My hope is that you find the show profitable for your farming business, rural practice, and your local rural community.