More Land? Ask yourself these questions By Lorie Woodward Cantu
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AND IS THE FACTORY FOR AN AGRICULTURAL OPERATION. IT is also a fi nite resource. As the old saying goes, “They’re not making any more of it.” A genera-
tion ago, farmers and ranchers were buying land to expand their operations. Today, the majority of the demand for land comes from those outside agriculture who are interested in recreational properties or invest- ments, creating a market based on something other than production value. “As a long-time Hill County rancher told me, ‘When
I got into this business 50 years ago, my biggest com- petition for land was my rancher neighbors down the road; today it’s doctors, lawyers and engineers who want a piece of country to enjoy, not produce,’” says Carl Homeyer, state agriculture economist for the Natu- ral Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Temple. Researching old deed records, Homeyer found that
interest rates in the 1860s to 1870s ranged from 10 percent to 14 percent, yet people were still able to pay for it strictly from production agriculture. He noted that even with today’s historically low interest rates it is almost impossible to make land payments with traditional production agriculture alone. According to the Texas A&M Real Estate Center, the