Estate taxes are a tax on the transfer of property following a death. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act included an estate-tax exemption, which expires in 2025. It requires an estate to file and pay taxes when gross assets exceed $11.58 million per person. After Dec. 31, 2025, the exemption amount returns to $5 million per individual adjusted for inflation, as set by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. Previously the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 had gradually raised the exemption amount from $675,000 to $3.5 million in 2009.

Analysts are watching as beef prices drift lower, and are looking ahead to see what holiday demand might look like in this unusual year. Andrew Griffith, University of Tennessee ag economist, says some of the downward trend in boxed beef prices is seasonal.

It’s like a tale of two landscapes. When I submitted my previous crop report, central Wisconsin was peaking in fall colors. Farmers chopped and combined their way through corn for silage and beans for the bin, under a cinematic landscape of maroons, yellows and flourishes of green. A bump in temperatures felt like summer again as central Wisconsin saw temps in the 70s.

OPINION  According to political forecasting website fivethirtyeight.com Pennsylvania is currently rated as the most likely “tipping point” state in this year’s presidential election – the one most likely to put a presidential candidate past 270 electoral votes and into the White House in 2021. Wisconsin has also taken its turn at the top of the rankings of most-crucial states.

The coronavirus pandemic has now impacted all four quarters of 2020, and seemingly every aspect of life and business. The U.S. economy has been improving since late spring but progress has slowed measurably. With broad fiscal relief now off the table at least in the near-term, the economy will likely end the year in a fizzle.

Students from across the state gathered in Declo on Oct. 14 for the Idaho State FFA and 4-H Land and Soil Evaluation Event.

We were in the home stretch of painting our farmhouse while every other farmer seemed to be intent on harvest. During the first week of October the roar of nearby combines at work spurred us through those last few days.

Growing-season 2020 started cold but caught up in a big way. Most crops made it to maturity without a frost cutting them short. Thanks to an excellent planting season there was enough time for our crops to fully mature. That’s not always the case.

Hey all sorry I missed you last time! The past month has been super busy for us. A lot of beans have come off, wheat has been planted and corn has come off as well.

Fall comes upon us in stages in Wisconsin. A lone maple can sport a branch of rusty leaves in August amongst a sea of green – as a reminder summer won’t last forever. September arrived and I reminded myself daily there’s still plenty of green in the woodlot canopy. And then suddenly my woodlot workshop was dwarfed by a Technicolor blaze of crimson and yellow. I found myself turning the calendar page and glancing ahead at October commitments. Just like that we’re half-way into the 10th month of the Julian and Gregorian calendars.

DARLINGTON, Wis. – Cover-crop treatments were on display recently during what one might call an open-house day at farms near Darlington. The field day was hosted by the Lafayette Ag Stewardship Alliance to demonstrate best conservation practices with cover crops and manure application at four farm sites. The farmer-led watershed-protection group has as its mission a commitment to sustainable stewardship of natural resources.

Soybean producers willing to keep detailed records and perform thorough equipment maintenance could find a premium as a seed grower.

FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. – There’s a graveyard just northeast of Fountain City where bodies have been laid to rest for more than 55 years.

Two research projects funded by the Illinois Beef Association’s checkoff division are producing intriguing results.

On most farms, respiratory protection is a necessity at some point. Whether you’re working in a grain bin or livestock barn, handling chemicals or just doing dusty building maintenance, having respiratory protection available should be standard safety protocol.