Most private forest land owners have no idea what tools are available to them, and that gap is costing them money while their forests quietly degrade. Andy Tait, co-founder of EcoForesters, a nonprofit professional forestry organization based in western North Carolina, breaks down a practical framework for private land owners who want to manage their forests well without having to choose between conservation and financial sustainability.

The centerpiece of this conversation is the Present Use Value program, a tax incentive that can reduce property tax assessments by as much as 96% for land owners who commit to keeping their forest in active management. Andy covers who qualifies, how the program transfers when land sells, and why it can actually make a property easier to market to buyers. He also walks through the EQIP federal cost share program, carbon sequestration markets as an income stream for land owners who never want to harvest timber, and why doing nothing with your forest is often the worst management decision you can make.

For land owners in the southern Appalachians and across the eastern US, this episode is a practical starting point for understanding what your forest is worth, what threats it faces, and what it could become with the right management behind it.

Contact EcoForesters! 

https://www.ecoforesters.org/

Visit National Land Realty

https://www.nationallan.com 

Mark Peterson grew up on a fifth-generation fruit farm in Michigan, managed five processing facilities and a thousand employees by age 22, and then walked away from all of it to chase pheasants. What followed was one of the more unlikely success stories in the outdoor industry. In this conversation, Mark traces his path from farm kid to acquiring Cabela's Outdoor Adventure and Tag Service to building Worldwide Trophy Adventures into the largest hunting booking agency in the world, with outfitters in every corner of the globe and owned operations across Canada, Colorado, Kentucky and Mexico.

But the conversation goes well beyond booking hunts. Mark talks about why private landowners are among the most underappreciated conservation partners in North America, how upland bird habitat is the first thing lost when land use changes, and what it actually takes to build a long-term lease relationship with a landowner that works for both sides. He also covers where the hunting industry is headed over the next five years, why access is tightening and costs are climbing, and what COVID quietly did to hunting participation numbers that nobody is talking about.

For landowners who lease hunting rights, land agents who work with recreational properties, and anyone who has ever thought about turning their land into a hunting destination, this one covers the full picture.

https://markvpeterson.com/

Worldwide Trophy Adventures (Go on a hunting trip!)

https://worldwidetrophyadventures.com/ 

National Land Realty

https://www.nationalland.com 

Farmland as an Investment Asset: A Conversation with Chris Rawley, Founder of Harvest Returns

Most people who want exposure to farmland think they have two options: buy it outright or stay out. Chris Rawley built a third option. As founder and CEO of Harvest Returns, a platform with over 12,000 investors, he has spent a decade matching private capital with farming operations across row crops, grazing land, permanent crops and more. In this conversation, Chris breaks down why institutional investors have allocated to farmland for decades, what non-correlation with the stock market actually means for a portfolio, and why cash flow plus scarcity makes agricultural land one of the more durable long-term holds available to private investors.

He also goes places most guests do not. He covers the MaHA movement's potential downstream effects on conventional agriculture, why the ethanol mandate quietly underpins 40% of America's corn market, how global soybean production in Brazil is quietly pressuring Midwest row crop economics, and why the most dangerous Black Swan for farmland values is not tariffs but the long-term fate of federal subsidies.

For new investors, young farmers who cannot clear the entry barrier, and portfolio diversifiers looking to move money off Wall Street, this episode lays out how private agricultural investment actually works and what the next three years look like from someone watching it from the capital side.

Harvest Returns

https://www.harvestreturns.com/

Visit National Land Realty

https://www.nationalland.com 

The biggest financial event in a farm family's life is often the one they are least prepared for. Mark Balzarini, an estate planning attorney with Helmuth and Johnson in the Twin Cities, has been working on farm succession plans since 2008 and breaks down the tools families need to understand before land changes hands.

The centerpiece of this conversation is Tax Code 1062, a provision introduced through the One Big Beautiful Bill that allows farmland owners to defer capital gains taxes over four years rather than paying the full hit at the time of sale. Mark explains who qualifies, what the 10-year agricultural use covenant means for buyers, how it compares to a 1031 exchange and Delaware Statutory Trust, and where the IRS is still building the rules as the statute gets implemented.

He also covers the fundamentals of stepped-up basis, contract for deed as a tax mitigation strategy, how LLCs and partnerships interact with succession planning, and why starting a transition plan five to six years early can be the difference between a clean handoff and a painful tax problem. For farm families with farming and non-farming heirs, his advice on keeping things equitable rather than just equal is worth the listen alone.

Helmuth & Johnson

Visit National Land Realty

Someone could list your land for sale today, find a buyer, close the deal, and pocket the money. You would not know it happened until it was too late to stop it. This is not hypothetical. It is happening right now across the country, and vacant land owned free and clear by out-of-state or absentee owners is the number one target.

In this conversation, National Land Realty broker Ryan Schroeder out of Nebraska, compliance director Jeramy Stephens out of Arkansas, and COO Susan Floyd out of South Carolina pull back the curtain on every major fraud scheme hitting the land industry today. They break down seller impersonation, where scammers mine public records to steal a landowner's identity and list property they have never set foot on. They cover wire fraud and how a single intercepted email has cost buyers and sellers everything at closing. They walk through forged quitclaim deeds, contract flipping, and the fake earnest money check scheme that catches agents off guard more than people realize.

More importantly, they tell you exactly what to do about it. From free government monitoring tools like propertyfraudalert.com to why putting land in an LLC adds a layer of protection most owners never consider, this episode is a practical checklist for inherited landowners, rural investors, real estate agents and anyone sitting on property they do not visit regularly.

If you own land and nobody is watching it, this one is for you.

https://www.nationalland.com

Fraud Resources:

Forewarn

https://www.forewarn.com/

TrueCaller

https://www.truecaller.com/

True People Search

https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/

Property Fraud Alert

https://www.propertyfraudalert.com

Home Title Lock

https://www.hometitlelock.com/

Register of Deeds office (Local Resource)

Understanding Timber and Timberland Investment with John Ross Havard

Most people who own timber have no idea what it is actually worth or what it takes to harvest it. John Ross Havard, a consulting forester and land agent based in Alabama with National Land Realty, breaks down the realities of owning timberland for private landowners who make up roughly half of all timberland ownership in the country. John covers why small-acreage timber is harder to monetize than most people assume, what the minimum acreage and access requirements look like before a harvest makes financial sense, how thinning cycles work for planted pine, and why clearcuts get a bad reputation they do not always deserve. He also explains the difference between TIMOs and REITs for investors who want timber exposure without owning land outright, and why the best buys right now are properties priced as pure timberland with untapped recreational potential.

Talk with John Ross Havard

https://nationalland.com/real-estate-agent/john-ross-havard

Visit National Land Realty to see our listings

https://www.nationalland.com 

2026 Land Market Outlook with Jeramy Stephens, National Land Realty

Few people in the land industry see more deals in a year than Jeramy Stephens. As compliance director at National Land Realty, he has eyes on roughly 1,700 to 2,000 transactions annually across Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Ohio. In this conversation, Jeramy breaks down what the land market actually looks like heading into 2026, from the squeeze tariffs and rising input costs are putting on Arkansas rice and cotton farmers, to the correction happening in rural mountain properties bought at inflated COVID-era prices. He covers why premium farmland and high-quality duck hunting ground remain surprisingly strong, how the generational transfer of wealth is quietly fueling land purchases, and why the land market is always the last asset class to move when broader economic uncertainty hits.

Talk to Jeramy Stephens

https://nationalland.com/real-estate-agent/jeramy-stephens

Visit National Land Realty to see our listings

https://www.nationalland.com 

California's agricultural land market is unlike anywhere else in the country, and right now it's navigating two forces at once: collapsing commodity prices for specialty crops like almonds and pistachios, and sweeping groundwater pumping restrictions that are rewriting land values from the ground up. Brian Neufeld, a land agent based in California's Central Valley with licenses across Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, breaks down what those forces mean for buyers and sellers heading into 2026. He covers how water supply has become the first question every buyer asks, why some properties have sat unsold while sellers wait for a market that may not return, and where hidden value exists in so-called "white land" areas with restricted water delivery. For investors willing to do the underwriting work, Brian sees opportunity in a market that is painful today but structurally limited in supply long term.

Talk to Brian Neufeld

https://nationalland.com/real-estate-agent/brian-neufeld

Visit National Land Realty to see our listings

https://www.nationalland.com 

What does the agricultural land market really look like heading into 2026? Shannon Schlachter, a land agent based in Holyoke, Colorado, just 14 miles from the Nebraska border, breaks down current conditions across northeastern Colorado and western Nebraska. Shannon covers why dry land acre prices have softened from $2,200 toward the $1,950 to $2,000 range, how high input costs, 9% operating note interest rates, and drought conditions are creating widespread buyer hesitation, and why FSA relief payments could be the catalyst that jumpstarts activity in Q2. She also outlines three distinct seller profiles emerging in this market and explains why, for patient investors, this valley in land values may represent a genuine buying opportunity before appreciation returns.

Talk to Shannon! 

https://nationalland.com/real-estate-agent/shannon-schlachter

Visit National Land Realty to see out Land for Sale

https://www.nationalland.com

Oklahoma land broker Dillon Smith returns to The National Land Podcast for a boots-on-the-ground update on the western Oklahoma land market — and delivers the kind of straight talk that only comes from an agent who's actually closing deals. Based in Kingfisher, Dillon breaks down exactly what's moving and what's sitting: cattle pasture is gaining value on the back of a red-hot beef market, wheat ground is softening as input costs outpace grain prices, and recreational hunting land is holding steady for the right tracts in the right spots.

The central theme of this episode is pricing discipline. Dillon explains why overpriced listings are stalling out across the board, how he handles the hard conversation with sellers who bought at peak prices and now expect peak returns, and why he believes western Oklahoma has shifted into a buyer's market — where pricing correctly isn't optional, it's the whole ballgame. He also digs into highest-and-best-use analysis, water access as a rising factor in land value near Oklahoma City's suburbs, and the land improvements (ponds, fences, access roads) that are actually moving the needle for sellers.

Whether you're buying, selling, or holding farmland, ranch ground, or hunting property in Oklahoma or anywhere in the rural Midwest, Dillon's practical advice on market timing, seller expectations, and broker pricing opinions is the kind of insight that helps you make better land decisions.

Talk to Dillon Smith

https://nationalland.com/real-estate-agent/dillon-smith

Visit National Land Realty

https://www.nationalland.com