The USDA released its annual FY 2018 Annual Report on Technology Transfer on Friday, June 28, 2019. The report describes 471 licenses, 120 patent applications and 67 actual patents that address opportunities, challenges and problems faced in agriculture.
Secretary Perdue said, “Today, USDA is still helping to drive technological innovation – both on the farm and off. Studies show that every dollar invested in agricultural research returns $20 to our economy,” during the Forbes AgTech Summit held in Salinas, CA.
Change isn’t easy
When any of the patents or licenses reach the production stage and have the opportunity for the promised impact, the one thing that will be common will be that change will occur. Change may be required to processes, products or practices of farmers and ranchers or they may be required by food handlers and transportation. Depending upon the innovation, change may be significant, or it may be as simple as adding or subtracting from what is currently being done. But in any case, change will make its impact.
Secretary Perdue’s statement of ‘$1 invested yielding $20 in return’ can only be achieved when the researchers link their solution to the real world production of agriculture. The key step in that link is the acceptance of the farmer and rancher to the solution. Change can be hard when you have done something for generations and then the prospect of doing it differently…unless there is a real benefit that propels the farmer to make the change a new way of doing business.
Just like auto-steer, it was hard for some 60 year old farmers to imagine how it could help his operation when ‘his rows were the straightest in the county.’ Today, that same farmer won’t climb into the cab of his tractor if auto-steer isn’t operational!
Change can provide choices
A similar response could be found from farmers when it comes to deferring taxes using MDPT because they have always used the same accounting practices since ‘Dad ran the farm.’ MDPT provides capital when taxes are deferred upon the sale of commodities or land. More capital provides more choices for your operation and family and in these rough financial times, choices can be in short supply.
MDPT provides tax deferral, not tax avoidance. The key to success using MDPT is how the farmer uses choices provided by the capital available during the deferral timeframe. If you have the sale of farm commodities or farmland, contact us at Farmers First Trust and see if MDPT provides the choices that propel change in the financial planning for your farm operation.
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