RIP Ted Turner
- Thread starter Charlie Marlow
- Start date
Not sad he’s gone. He bought up 500,000 acres of the Sandhills. It will never go back to rancher ownership.
Definitely a pioneer. Broadcast Braves games on WTBS…founded CNN (used to love CNN Sports with Fred Hickman and Nick Charles)
Oh no, an American using his wealth to buy land. Notice how the ranchers didn't sell to their neighbors instead?
..that's a really great point and something i bring up a lot. Everyone, always, grabs the bag when they have the opportunity.. they coulda sold for less to a local that would have loved to have had the land and would have taken great care of it and appreciated it, but they felt lile they needed every penny so they chose, capitalism. I'm sure in many cases we're talking about many of millions, more than enough to set your family up for life, but they needed, more...
Very good friend of mine in Atlanta that never misses an opportunity to complain about " the system" recently sold his house to.. wait for it, Blackrock.
Everyone always wants everyone else to take less, or "share" .. while they do the opposite.
Exactly. All these people love to spew capitalism and small government, until they don't agree with a specific aspect. Then excuses and complaining.
My brother is a full on communist - he condemns the rich for not donating enough. I asked what he gives … “I pay my taxes” - do you give anything else for a higher purpose? Nope. Do you feel it’s hypocritical to say others should give to philanthropy and you don’t, even though you have the means to do it? Nope. UGH.
Destroys the local tax base and ranch families. Last I knew it was going to be given to the federal government and taken off the property tax rolls which supports local schools.
This is a good article - from an ag publication - explaining how his ranch land is used. Note that much of his land in Nebraska and South Dakota qualified for a property tax exemptions but he chose not to take them, saying:
"I believe that local property taxes provide essential support for services on which our ranches and communities depend. The Institute will continue to pay its share of taxes to support the local communities,"
DTN Ag Policy article
Nothing here indicates that his land is going to the federal government. Ever consider that maybe the local coffee shop isn't a rock-solid source of information?
I'm not a huge Turner fan, but the U.S. losing ag land to suburban and ex-urban development is a far bigger issue than anything he did. And while I hate to see that, I'm also not for telling anyone who they can or cannot sell their land to.
We'll see. That doesn't exactly fit with what I know about how he managed his affairs. Either way, you how you stop that? Have local ranchers sell to local ranchers.
According to the article I read yesterday, Ted told the Flatwater Free Press that he had it set up to always pay local taxes, regardless of the tax status. Obviously we'll see if that holds.
There were multiple articles about his plan when he bought it and at that point the plan was to eventually donate it to the feds. As I noted, “last I knew”. If his estate plan is different than that, great. Last I heard about it was decades ago. I have never talked to anybody at a coffee shop or bar about his purchases. If you think that any farmer or rancher is in favor of some trust, wealthy investor, or fed bureaucracy controlling large swaths of ag land, you would be sadly mistaken. It has gotten so young farmers and can’t remotely begin to buy land without significant help and even then it won’t cash flow.
Ted no doubt had good intentions. The problem is that it’s doubtful the people who control his estate will continue his altruistic policies.
Must have been at least a few farmers and ranchers who were okay with him controlling large swaths of land. They sold him theirs.
I doubt I could find any farmer or rancher within a 100-mile radius of a metropolitan area who is in favor of urban sprawl taking over ag land. And yet, it somehow happens on a daily basis.
Lots of land ends up with the kids who moved to urban areas. They have to sell to settle the estate and there’s always one who insists on getting every dollar they can.
I totally agree with this, but that issue exists with or without people like Turner in the picture.
My sisters and I inherited some pasture a few years ago and sold it to a neighbor at what we considered a fair price. Quite a few people scoffed at us for not putting it on the auction block, but we chose not to. Our dad would be happy that it stayed in local hands, and that there are still cattle on it.
LOVE when families work together on this type of thing. Bravo
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Gee, I wonder why. Could it be because farmers and ranchers have to squeeze every last dime out of their land? They knowingly screw the future generations, and then cry about how those same kids can't afford to buy land. Pick one. Sell it for top dollar and STFU, or sell for a huge profit, but not top dollar, and help the neighbor kid. Can't have it both ways.
So sick of the hypocrisy in agriculture. Vote for handouts and then claim they didn't want handouts. Sell land to investors and then cry young farmers can't get started. All a bunch of nonsense by people living in a bubble.
I wouldn't be shocked if UNL ends up involved in his Nebraska ranches at some point. He had ties to the UNL grazing program, and his desire was to leave his ranches for research purposes.
People that truly care can work around that by selling before they die, even with the tax implications. They just don't actually care that much to make it a point to do it. Just talk, no action.
While I love ripping on firemen because they make a ton for doing nothing...at least they don't ***** about it like the American Farmer does!
They ***** for handouts NON STOP and then they pay kids that work for them next to nothing...Then they ***** about all the hard work that they have to do. They are basically like a teacher on steroids when it comes to bitching.
I am 100% right. People just can't come to grips with reality.
This is a really dumb post.
The farmers & ranchers who sold arent the ones coming back crying that future generations are screwed.
The ones who are upset are those who never left. The ones who are still back home farming & ranching. Their kids want to farm & ranch, but they dont have enough for everyone and there isnt any more affordable land because the big rich guys bought it all up.
Also, it's not just farmers & ranchers competing for that land. Many times now it's guys who made a killing at another business venture and they need to park their money somewhere & land it a good option for them. They have income coming in elsewhere to offset any big farm losses while for family farms, all the eggs are in that 1 basket.
You clearly dont understand how the farm "handouts" or subsidies work or even how the government works. Handouts/subsidies isn't something you can switch on or off. Also, once any subsidy is in place, it never goes away. That's not the farmer's / ranchers fault.
Again, it's not the guys who have sold for top dollar who are crying.
Tell me you don't know any farmers without telling me you don't know any farmers.
The only way your story is true is if Jr didn't have his life together, but had mommy & daddy's farm as a backup. He stayed on as a hired man for his folks, complained the entire time from when he was 24 thinking he knew everything, mommy & daddy eventually got too old to work any more so now Jr has to do everything, but still doesn't have the work ethic or love of farming so he bitches while not doing much and tanking the family farm.
The old guys pissing and moaning that there isn't a future for young farmers/ranchers are the same ones who will knowingly perpetuate the cycle, by either directly selling to a non-neighbor, or passing onto kids they know will sell for top dollar. The cycle starts with that decision.
Direct payments were eliminated with what, the 2014 Farm Bill? Everyone kind of agreed just handing out money for no real rhyme or reason was kind of stupid. Here we are, 12 years later, farmers voted for tariffs and a trade policy they knew would not only hurt them, but hurt them disproportionately compared to most of the rest of the country. But they did it anyway. Now they are crying for "bridge payments". Which is another term for a handout.
So, yes, they did actually start to switch off directly handing farmers money. That has now been reversed and we are back to just cutting checks for being a farmer, not even pretending to tie it to an uncontrollable environmental disaster like drought.
The millionaire farmers will be right in line to get their handout too, while complaining about fraud in some far off state the next morning.
You make it sound like most farmers have an option on trying to squeeze as much out of their land as they can. Family farms are disappearing at an amazing rate because the next generation can’t rent or buy enough land to stay in it.
Are you saying that people who "truly care" (what does this even mean) should sell their land to some 25 year old who wants to farm? Even if the farmers just sold it at fair market value, that 25 year would never get approved for a loan.
You would probably need a minimum of 1,000 acres to survive farming today. Probably closer to 1,500 but lets go with 1,000 for now. Average farm land in Nebraska goes for $3,900 per acre. Say the farmer was kind hearted and sold his land for under market price at 3,000 per acre.
- That young farmer would be on the hook for $3,000,000 in just land alone (farm loan interest rate at 5.5%).
- That doesn't include equipment (huge expense), inputs (fertilizer, seed, fuel, water, utilities, labor, etc) and taxes.
- Property taxes on Nebraska farmland often ranges between $60-$120 per acre so even on the low end, this new farmer has an annual $60,000 property tax burden.
- Then there are years when farmers don't even make money (unlike firefighters & teachers there @SuperBigFan69 )
I get it, you think you know how this all works and how simple it is, but you just have no idea.
Oh come on now. You're a witty and funny guy. You could've come up with a much better burn than that.