CHART OF THE DAY: The cost of the most important nitrogen fertilizer is back to pre-war levels in the US, benefiting from ample natural gas supply in America. Urea prices are sharply down too in Europe and Latin America, but remain elevated in most of Asia.

Trump Says China Expected to Buy Significant U.S. Farm Output, Fox News Interview

This past week I had direct dealings regarding a couple sentiments I’ve seen expressed on here before... First sentiment: “Young people wanting to buy a home or get into farming can’t afford the entry cost in this market without a significant discount!” Second: “Boomers just want top dollar for their assets and won’t give anyone a discount to allow them to get started in life because they are all entitled!” I’ve worked on three different projects in the last week where the “Entitled Boomers” have either sold or are wanting to sell their farm land or farm homesite at a substantial discount to a young tenant. (all non family tenants/potential buyers). One property is under contract to be sold for less than 25% of fair market value. That being said, there ARE ways for young people to have/get a leg up starting out without having to pay top dollar to do so. The reason these buyers were allowed to have these opportunities is because they were ALL good care takers of the property when they were the tenants, didn’t take advantage of the landlords (now property sellers) while being tenants, and were honest about the property and things they had done or were planning to do to it. The tenants high character and good management were big considerations for the private discounted sale. Note also how the now buyers all started out as tenants first and not immediate owners. They had to prove themselves first and they did not have an entitled attitude or perspective thinking they should get a discount immediately. Though the discount did come to them, they STARTED without it. The discount and leg up came later and they are now able to leverage that. Also shows not ALL asset owning “Boomers” are greedy entitled individuals who are just wanting top dollar for their property when they sell. Treat them fairly, never know how they may repay it. (I feel like you should do that to anyone regardless if they may or may not repay it, simply because it’s the right thing to do.) A lot of these “Boomers” DO want to see the next generation succeed too, which may seem contrary to what some say… To anyone who may find themselves in a similarly blessed situation someday as these three young buyers are, a couple pieces of advice: 1) Make sure you have breathing room in your budget and are not over leveraged with debt to the point you are unable to say yes to the amazing opportunity. 2) Be patient. You’ll have to build your reputation and prove yourself before things will “fall in your lap”. Stay focused, lucrative opportunities won’t happen fast. 3) Celebrate other’s success. If someone else is given an opportunity like this and you aren’t, don’t be bitter or resentful of them. Be happy with and for them. 4) If you already know you’ll have a situation like this in the future, be preparing for it NOW. Be saving for any potential down payment money needed, map out how the change will impact your life, and be ready to move when the time is right. (Refer to Point 1 too)

India, the world’s top importer of urea, has agreed to buy the nitrogen-based fertilizer at sharply higher prices than in a previous tender, per Bloomberg