Agriculture Blog

Specialized agriculture can be looked at from both sides. The farmer would perhaps say that it is easier to specialize in just the one crop. There are less things to think about when you only have the pests and peculiarities of one plant as opposed to many. It is easier to grow one kind all in the same area, and in the same containment. No particular effort to keep them separate would have to be made, and having only one kind of seed makes it easier to keep track of what is sprouting when the plants are young.

On the other side, to grow only one variety of anything strips the land of certain nutrients. Farmers who are environmentally conscious know that it is better sometimes to leave the fields for a year, and sometimes even better to plant a compatible plant on the off season to restock the soil. While the farmer may have to work a little harder at outset, diversity could be the answer if one of the crops should have a problem. Chances are good if your stock is diverse enough you will still have something that survives.

As Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Twain’s oft heard adage – ‘buy land, they’re not making it anymore’ has been indirectly taken to heart by investors in the UK scouring the markets for the best investment. That is to say that in relation to the boom in the buy-to-let property market it is not the bricks and mortar which rises in value, but the underlying UK land on which the development sits. Indeed, the value of bricks and mortar deteriorates over time, so in some senses a UK property market investment is actually a UK land investment more than anything else.

In this article we will look not at the relative merits of a land investment vis-à-vis a property market investment but at whether the two (ie direct land investment versus indirect land investment) complement each other in an investment portfolio. The former subject is too extensive to discuss here and, at any rate, since many people already have property market assets the pertinent question for them is this: ‘does investment land complement property market holdings or is each investment opportunity best pursued in isolation?’.

Of course much depends on what type of investment land is being considered. For instance, self-build Read the rest of this entry »

The argument for farm subsidies is they help small, family farmers stay in business. That’s a silly argument taxpayers should not subsidize businesses. If a small, family farm can’t profit in a free market, the family is better served by the breadwinner entering a business which produces a profit. When that happens, both the family and society benefit. But even if you accept the argument that taxpayers should help out small, family farmers, farm subsidies do just the opposite.

During the 70 year history of farm subsidies, the percentage of America’s population on farms has dropped from 25% to 2%. Contrary to what politicians tell us, farm subsidies are designed to benefit rich farmers and drive off small farmers because the more crops a farmer plants, the bigger the check government sends him. That’s because farm subsidies are rooted in socialism.

Woodrow Wilson took the first bite of the apple by guaranteeing prices of certain crops after WWI. The result was that farmers switched to planting those crops with a government guaranteed price, created a glut, and the Federal government was stuck with a bunch of worthless crops it had to dump at significantly lower prices. Taxpayers footed the bill for Read the rest of this entry »

Have you always dreamed of owning a ranch? Did the wide open spaces and stunning beauty of the Texas land on shows like Dallas leave you with a yearning to own some of your own? This may be the perfect time to find East Texas ranch land for sale. Land prices are still low here but you can be sure that they won’t stay this low for long.

As baby boomers and their next generation near retirement, many of them are choosing to relocate to the wide open spaces of Texas. The influx of industry and retirees has made Texas the fastest growing state in the country. Much of that growth is centered on the major metropolitan areas of Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Austin.

In the past few years, many people seeking an escape from the urban hustle and bustle have taken advantage of the lower prices for rural land to acquire their own dreams. The past year has seen the prices for land west of Dallas rise 15%, but the average price of ranch land for sale still remains around $1,000 an acre. As land prices continue to rise in other parts of the state, though, Read the rest of this entry »

Many people who buy UK land for sale see it as a way to riches, but for most it ends up in disaster.

The sales talk is fantastic, as investors are promised huge returns but in most cases investors pay vastly inflated prices, for land that never gets the required planning permission promised.

Here we will look at UK land for sale, why you need to be wary and a country that can make you far better profits from land for sale.

Let’s look at UK land for sale and why most investors lose.

Planning permission

Most investors are told that if they buy a plot of UK land for sale and it gets planning permission then the value of the land will rocket in value as house buliders move in and develop it.

Of course the big variable is “if”

In most cases it simply does not happen and even if it does it can be 10, 15 OR 20 years down the line.

Many companies say it’s imminent and say it’s going to be within a couple of years, but of course if it was and definite they wouldn’t need to sell it!

If they are so confident they could make a profit themselves

Land is sold at Read the rest of this entry »

A good land for sale in the United Kingdom is when it has various potentials for development in the future. Nobody wants to invest in land that will be idle for the next several years. If the land becomes idle, the money that you invested becomes idle as well. Of course, this does not mean that there should already be developments of buildings or residential unit in few years time since it will be all up to you to utilize the land purchased. But what it means is that the land for sale should have future plans for development. However, the good sign that that there is near development in the future is when there are already infrastructures near the land so that you would be able to plan the possible use of the land for sale. The idea of a good land for sale is the prospect of development and maximum utilization in the future. A land with a potential for development would yield good benefits and returns to the amount that you invested on the land for sale.

Fortunately, Crown Land is one of the companies in UK that offers land for sale in strategic location Read the rest of this entry »

Africa is the poorest continent of the world, with great problems to produce the necessary amounts of agriculture products to give food and gain to its people; this, because African farmers are obliged to use their fertile soils with totally inadequate systems for the needs of local people that are also the cause of great damages for the environment.

So, this situation should change drastically toward a more sustainable use of lands for agriculture and breeding but this, unluckily, doesn’t depends only on African farmers.

The local cultivations are performed with primitive techniques that don’t use the soil in the best way that nature can allow and push farmers to cut the tropical forests or invade the savanna to find new land to cultivate.

This system produces new desert areas within few years, as soon as the soil exhausts its mineral content.

Another dramatic problem is the advancing dryness of many sub-Saharan and eastern regions of Africa (eased by deforestation and global warming), a frequent cause of local famine and diseases.

But the most dramatic problem, for its economic and political consequences, is that the Africans are not anymore (if they have ever been so) owners of their own lands because Read the rest of this entry »

Land use planning in the UK looks set to be hotly debated as the Government faces a stark reality painted by surveyors trade body, writes Alex Way.

Whether or not you agree with the proposition that professional trade bodies exist to serve, rather than regulate their members, some trade bodies more than others command respect by dint of their long establishment and naturally ‘conservative’ outlook. In this sense, ‘conservative ‘ pertains not to political affiliation, but to a general predisposition to ‘preserving the current, and resisting change’.

As such, when a body as august as The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICs) points-out that for the Government to deliver its housing target, some sustainable UK land sites in the Greenbelt should be awarded residential land planning permission, the notion of Greenbelt review is lent real credence. If nothing else, it evidences that land development in parts of the Greenbelt is not merely the fantasy of rapacious property development firms driven by dreams of avarice, but in fact a legitimate – indeed an important – discussion to raise.

Currently, potential development land in Greenbelts can only gain a land planning award if the land developers can Read the rest of this entry »

Land investments are now regarded as an alternative investment to the stock market, for many reasons. The most cited is that land being a tangible asset makes it less susceptible to depreciation brought by wear and tear, the volatility of the stock market, and it increases in value over time. This is so because the law of supply and demand applies to land – the Earth has only so much land to supply but the demand for more land increases with population growth. Thus, if you are looking for a more stable medium to long term investment opportunity with the potential of exceptional returns, then land investment could be exactly what you are looking for.

If you are looking for land for sale, one of the best countries to look into is the United Kingdom (UK). The country is offering attractive tracts of land for sale to local and international buyers with the opening up of more freehold land. But before you go into land investments in the UK, choosing a good land investment provider/land agent is important. As with any sizable investment, the layman would be in a good position to invest Read the rest of this entry »

Thinking of investing in a good plot of land but don’t know how to research and find information about the history of the land? You’re right, you need to know the history and the basic information about the land before you invest in it. Even if the land appears to be exactly what you’re looking for, you’ll never know what has been done on the piece of land before the Civil War or even before that. At some point in your land finding spree, you’ll need to learn how to research and dig into land and property records.

By looking through the land and property records, you will find out who has owned the piece of property or land before this, who currently owns the piece of land or property now, how much was the land or property bought for in the past, and when the transaction occurred. You can find all this information in the land and property records.

If you’re new to all this land buying and land selling, be warned that looking through and finding information about a certain piece of land or property can be a little intimidating and time-consuming in the beginning. But Read the rest of this entry »