Wednesday, June 8, 2011

America's Hottest Investment -- FARMLAND

Not me saying it, but TIME Magazine. Here is the cover story --

"America's Hottest Investment: Farmland."

Yep, what I and others have written about for some time. Particularly producing cropland in the American heartland. The demand for commodity crops -- particulary corn (which is driven by worldwide demand for corn for ethanol fuel production) has driven up corn prices. Which has pushed farmers around the globe to plant every acre they can in the maize-colored crop. Even to the detriment of other crops, or land they previously had in hay (which  has created, at least in the U.S., a hay shortage, thereby driving up hay prices).

American humorist Will Rogers famously said, buy land - they aren't making any more of it. That coupled with the commodity push around the world is driving up prices. In my neck of the woods, the areas seeing the largest spikes are western Ohio, which is considered the eastern edge of the American "corn belt."

A very good story about modern farming and land values. TIME says the return on investment right now is a better return than stocks or gold. Worth reading and passing on.

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