Daniela Mattos is an assistant professor of practice here the Department of Agricultural Economics, and the chair of the Rural Economic and Community Vitality Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

An opportunity for rural community leaders, professionals and citizens alike to learn about economic and community development tools and strategies is now available here in UNL’s Department of Agricultural Economics. The Rural Economic and Community Vitality graduate certificate is an online, 12 credit hour program that works to equip its students with the knowledge to understand rural communities and the issues they are facing, while preparing them to participate in constructive community affairs.

Austin Duerfeldt is an extension educator and agricultural economist based in the southeast region of the state. 

While it’s not practical or possible for every farm to purchase more ground or rent additional acres, it is possible for every operation to look at ways to be more efficient with what they currently have. Many times, increases in efficiency will lead to greater profitability and more opportunity for growth. But where should you start looking for places to become more efficient? Working to reduce waste is a great place to start. 

Enterprise budget templates were recently updated for producers’ use to estimate sheep and goat revenue and expenses and consider projected breakeven scenarios. Using a west central Nebraska representative sheep flock with 250 ewes and a 70 head meat goat herd, the budgets are prepared for producers to use as guides when entering their own information using an Excel spreadsheet format.  

Extension educators Glennis McClure and Randy Saner discuss how the budgets came together and why they are useful for producers. 

Jim Jansen is an agricultural economist with Nebraska Extension, and co-author of the annual Nebraska Farm Real Estate Report. 

Nebraska contains over 45 million acres of agricultural land used as cropland, grazing land, hayland and more. About 56% of that ag land in the state is owned by farmers and rancher, while absentee landowners own the remaining 46%, which equates to nearly 20 million acres that are leased out. A new report from the USDA’s Economic Research Service shows that, nationally, the majority of these absentee landowners who are non-operators — who typically cash rent their land to operators — live within about 50 miles of their land. Jansen discusses more about the characteristics of landownership in Nebraska and across the country, and why understanding them is important to both owners and operators. 

Dr. Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel is a Nebraska Extension educator with Rural Prosperity Nebraska. 

One byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the growth of remote work. And, for the people that can work anywhere, that also may mean they can live anywhere. For rural communities, where population loss is often an issue, this may present an opportunity to attract new residents – that is if these communities can effectively market their potential. 

John Westra is a professor and program leader in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

Reducing carbon emissions has become a central focus in addressing environmental and sustainability goals for governments and many private sector industries. That means agriculture producers and landowners may have decisions to make if they are approached about carbon payment plans or carbon markets. This raises many new questions for farmers and ranchers who should consider how practices associated with generating carbon credits will impact their operation.

With Katie Samples Dean, attorney, and Paul Neiffer, CPA Proposed changes to capital gains have farmers and ranchers wondering what it means for passing their operations to the next generation. 

Katie Samples Dean, an attorney specializing in agricultural law, and Paul Neiffer, a Certified Public Accountant, will discuss the proposals and potential impacts as it relates to farm estate and transition planning.

Developing operating policies for a farm business can be time consuming and inconvenient. The easy thing to do may be to leave policies to chance. But this can run the risk of creating confusion and dissatisfaction for farm employees. And it can be costly for operators. 

To discuss more about farm business policies, how they can be beneficial and how to go about creating them, is Larry Van Tassel, professor and head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at UNL.

Dave Aiken is a professor and water and agricultural law specialist in the Department of Agricultural Economics here at UNL. 

He looks at an issue that is really making its way on the radar of many producers across Nebraska – that’s Carbon Markets and Carbon banks. He discusses the ag practices that hold the greatest potential, who is buying carbon offsets, voluntary vs. regular carbon markets and more.

Elliott Dennis is an assistant professor and livestock economist in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

He discusses what the USDA-NASS Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report can tell us about production, as well as some new tools coming to assist producers in utilizing that data in their operations.