Agricultural Business Management News

by Megan Roberts, Extension educator On November 15, the bipartisan infrastructure bill, known formally as H.R. 3684 - Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act , became law. The wide-ranging law is, as the name suggests, primarily aimed at nationwide infrastructure improvements and transportation. In this brief summary post, I will cover a few provisions of relevance to agricultural and rural audiences and then dive deeper into a parameter of the law that affects a COVID-19 tax provision addressed previously on the Ag Business Management blog: the Employee Retention Credit.   Select rural and ag provisions While one could effectively argue roads and transportation infrastructure are inextricably linked to agriculture, for brevity, I am only highlighting a few selected ag and rural-related sections of the 1,039 page law.   Division F covers broadband internet access. In Division F, Title 1 the law outlines broadband grants for unserved and underserved locations, many of which are ru

 by Megan Roberts, Extension educator As harvest concludes and winter begins, many in farming sigh a sense of relief as the busiest times of the year are in the rearview mirror. The colder season of the year has it own sense of busyness though. As farmers, we often use this time of year for planning and management. A sometimes overlooked part of farm management is farm transition and estate planning. If you haven’t thought about your farm transition and estate plan in a while—or ever—now is a great time start.  University of Minnesota Extension is presenting four webinars on introductory farm transition and estate planning topics this December. Webinars are held Wednesdays from 10 –11:30 a.m. and are no cost to attendees. The first hour will be a presentation, with the remaining time available for Q&A. Pre-registration is requested; meetings held virtually on Zoom. Attend one or attend all four!  Whether young or old, a long-time farm owner or an aspiring beginning farmer, these we

by Megan Roberts, Extension educator University of Minnesota Extension's Ag Business Management team will present an end of year tax planning webinar for farm producers. The free webinar, hosted by Extension educators Megan Roberts and Rob Holcomb, will be held live online via Zoom on Tuesday, November 30 from 10 am to noon. A recording will be available by December 3. "2021 is expected to be a higher income year for many farm producers,” said Rob Holcomb, EA, agricultural business management Extension educator. “End of year tax planning is an effective strategy to help minimize 2021 tax liabilities.” Topics will include 2021 tax bracket updates, COVID-19 related tax credits and provisions, net operating loss changes, qualified business income (QBI) estimations, depreciation changes, income averaging, federal estate and gift tax, and tax planning. Farmers can submit questions ahead of time or participate in a live Q&A during the webinar.  Pre-registration for the webinar i