[quote=Travlin]Having productive land is very good. Buying more sounds like a good strategy. I will be researching that angle myself. I will also be researching stocks in the energy sector. Do you have any recommendations?
Travlin
[/quote]
Travlin,
First I’d like to thank you for this investment post. I am not a professional investor in either agriculture or energy, but have put alot of thought into it.
Regarding agriculture, I initially thought good farmland that requires no irrigation (Iowa) is the route to go. Although I have some money invested there, I recently turned down more. My thinking was that the bulk of what grows there (now) is animal feed (corn, beans, and alfalfa). I know that can (and will) change, but large parcels require too many energy and fertilizer inputs for the future I envision. A key point is that growing food that humans eat directly (walnuts) rather than indirectly (corn) should make more sense in an energy starved future.
My current favorite is California land. Small plots are already in place locally and are capable of growing many different crops. Our county lists about 100 agricultural crops that are produced and have developed markets in place. The irrigation requirement has both upside and downside - during droughts we can supplement irrigation water with groundwater (redundant system). Long term droughts are problematic. I am currently reading a book about our local irrigation system and 2 items are relavent to this discussion. First, the land went from dry land wheat farming that required thousands of acres (pre-irrigation) to 10 to 40 acre plots of high-value crops (with irrigation). Small plots are perfect for the family farm that uses human energy rather that large parcels that require fossil fuel. Second (and this shocked me) is that the wheat mined out the minerals in 2 decades. Wake up call for me. Another important factor is that I am more comfortable investing in property I am close to. I personally think it is senseless to invest in Brazil farmland because it is cheap. I want to eat produce from my land.
In the energy investment arena, the fly in the ointment is nationalization or heavy taxation of energy producing companies. The bulk of my energy investments are in the oil service area, which should bypass this and also provide a way to profit from higher prices. Operative work here is should - just an educated guess. I personally avoid large cap companies, since many have chemical operations which I don’t care for. I am waiting for another leg down to purchase Canadian energy trusts (or what were trusts) and US royalty trusts. I like the fact that many pay monthly dividends (rather than expensive management). Roger Conrad has a monthly newsletter (Canadian Edge) to cover the trusts. He is a poor timer but provides reserve and cost data which I use. A free energy website is McDep. He has been a guest on Puplava and is another sourse of information.
Sorry about the long post. Feel free to contact me direct if you want me to expand on this.
Nate
A man in Jefferson County, near Golden Colorado, has a very different perspective about "investment." It’s a notion called: Community Sufficiency Technologies. I know the name sounds disconnected from this topic, however, if you will read about it, you will see the connection.
You can find more information here:
http://www.organiclandscapedesign.org/
and
http://www.organiclandscapedesign.org/content/community-sufficiency-technologies
Another very different perspective is the Slow Money movement.
You can find more information here:
Hoping this is of value to you all. … dons
~Spam~
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