The National Land Podcast

Inside the REALTORS® Land Institute and the Designation Behind America's Best Land Agents

There are roughly 1.6 million licensed real estate agents in the United States. Only 749 of them hold the Accredited Land Consultant (ALC) designation. That gap is the whole conversation.

RLI CEO Aubrie Kobernus and two-time past president Jeramy Stephens join Mac Christian for a full breakdown of what the REALTORS® Land Institute is, what it is not, and why it matters to anyone buying, selling or brokering land. They cover the 80-year history of the organization, the difference between holding a real estate license and being a Realtor, and why land transactions are complex enough that the wrong agent can cost a client tens of thousands of dollars before anyone realizes it.

On the agent side, they walk through the full path from RLI membership to the ALC designation, what the courses actually cover, and why RLI members averaged $36 million in annual sales compared to $16 million for non-members in 2025. On the consumer side, they explain exactly how to find a land specialist in any state in the country and why AI is already sending people directly to the ALC search tool when they ask what to do with inherited land.

Whether you are a land agent wondering if the designation is worth it or a landowner trying to figure out who to trust with your most valuable asset, this episode answers both questions.

Check out RLI
https://www.rliland.com/

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What Happens to Your Tax Bill When You Sell the Farm? DST Strategy & More.

Forty percent of the land in this country is expected to change hands by 2035. Most of the people holding it have no idea how much of that wealth they are about to hand to the IRS.

Joe Michaletz and Mike O'Toole, CEO and principal at Discipline Advisors, have spent decades helping farmers, ranchers and land owners exit their real estate in the most tax-efficient way possible. In this conversation they break down the full toolkit, starting with 1031 exchanges and the most common mistakes people make going into them, including the debt replacement test that catches landowners off guard more than almost anything else. They walk through Delaware Statutory Trusts in real depth, how they differ from REITs, why diversification inside a DST portfolio matters as much as it does anywhere else, and what the 721 UPREIT path actually means and when it is and is not a good idea.

The conversation also covers charitable remainder unitrusts, a tax elimination strategy for farm equipment, livestock and grain that most landowners have never heard of, and how one dairy farmer moved 6.5 million dollars of cattle and equipment into a CRUT, sold it with zero tax, and funded a lifetime income stream in the process.

For anyone aging out of land ownership, planning a farm transition, or sitting on decades of appreciation with no exit plan, this episode is the conversation to have before you sign anything.

 

Visit Discipline Advisors!

https://www.disciplineadvisors.com/

 

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Q2 2026 Agricultural Economy and Land Market Update with Jackson Takach

Every quarter, Jackson Takach sees what most people in agriculture do not. As Chief Economist and Vice President of Farm and Ranch at Farmer Mac, the secondary market that quietly powers ag lending across the country, he watches credit demand, land transactions, farm bankruptcies, and commodity market signals from a vantage point very few people have access to. This conversation is his Q2 2026 read on all of it.

Jackson covers why the number one buyer of farmland is still the farmer next door, why all-cash land purchases have given way to more mortgage activity, and what the transition from Powell to Worsh at the Fed could mean for long-term borrowing costs. He breaks down the Strait of Hormuz situation and how a single blocked shipping lane sends diesel prices, nitrogen fertilizer costs and grocery bills climbing in slow motion across the entire US economy. He also addresses the rise in farm bankruptcies, where the stress is concentrated and why the headline numbers are less alarming than they appear, and gives his honest outlook on whether 2026 shapes up as a break-even year or something worse for row crop producers.

For anyone with money in land, a loan tied to agriculture, or a farm operation to run through the rest of this year, this is the overhead view you need.

Read The Feed

https://www.farmermac.com/news-events/the-feed/ 

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National Land Realty's New Commission Structure: Pick Your Plan, Keep More, Get More.

National Land Realty just restructured the way agents and brokers earn with 80%, 70%, and 60% plans, but the headline is not just about the splits. Starting April 2026, NLR introduced these commission plans. Agents have the ability to choose the structure that fits where they are in their career, whether that is a new agent finding their footing or a seasoned producer ready to cap out at 100%.

In this conversation, EVP of Sales Logan Eaton walks through how all three plans work, how to honestly evaluate which one is right for you, and why the split is only part of the story. Other brokerages offer 80%. What they do not offer is what NLR wraps around it. A full in-house marketing team, compliance and fraud protection on every transaction, cybersecurity coverage, bulk-negotiated access to platforms like Acres Enterprise and Land.com, proprietary tools like Land Tour 360, direct mail data and design, social media support, and back-office infrastructure that would cost a solo agent tens of thousands of dollars a year to replicate on their own.

The plan gives you options. The support gives those options real weight.

Talk to National Land Realty about new commission plans (all conversations are confidential). 

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What Is the Present Use Value Program and Should Your Timberland Be Enrolled?

Most private forest land owners have no idea what tools are available to them, and that gap is costing them money while their forests quietly degrade. Andy Tait, co-founder of EcoForesters, a nonprofit professional forestry organization based in western North Carolina, breaks down a practical framework for private land owners who want to manage their forests well without having to choose between conservation and financial sustainability.

The centerpiece of this conversation is the Present Use Value program, a tax incentive that can reduce property tax assessments by as much as 96% for land owners who commit to keeping their forest in active management. Andy covers who qualifies, how the program transfers when land sells, and why it can actually make a property easier to market to buyers. He also walks through the EQIP federal cost share program, carbon sequestration markets as an income stream for land owners who never want to harvest timber, and why doing nothing with your forest is often the worst management decision you can make.

For land owners in the southern Appalachians and across the eastern US, this episode is a practical starting point for understanding what your forest is worth, what threats it faces, and what it could become with the right management behind it.

 

Contact EcoForesters! 

https://www.ecoforesters.org/

 

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How a Fifth-Generation Fruit Farmer Built One of the World's Largest Hunting Booking Agencies

Mark Peterson grew up on a fifth-generation fruit farm in Michigan, managed five processing facilities and a thousand employees by age 22, and then walked away from all of it to chase pheasants. What followed was one of the more unlikely success stories in the outdoor industry. In this conversation, Mark traces his path from farm kid to acquiring Cabela's Outdoor Adventure and Tag Service to building Worldwide Trophy Adventures into the largest hunting booking agency in the world, with outfitters in every corner of the globe and owned operations across Canada, Colorado, Kentucky and Mexico.

But the conversation goes well beyond booking hunts. Mark talks about why private landowners are among the most underappreciated conservation partners in North America, how upland bird habitat is the first thing lost when land use changes, and what it actually takes to build a long-term lease relationship with a landowner that works for both sides. He also covers where the hunting industry is headed over the next five years, why access is tightening and costs are climbing, and what COVID quietly did to hunting participation numbers that nobody is talking about.

For landowners who lease hunting rights, land agents who work with recreational properties, and anyone who has ever thought about turning their land into a hunting destination, this one covers the full picture.

Mark V Peterson's Media

https://markvpeterson.com/

 

Worldwide Trophy Adventures (Go on a hunting trip!)

https://worldwidetrophyadventures.com/ 

 

National Land Realty

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How Do You Invest in Farmland Without Buying a Farm? The Founder of Harvest Returns Explains.

Farmland as an Investment Asset: A Conversation with Chris Rawley, Founder of Harvest Returns

Most people who want exposure to farmland think they have two options: buy it outright or stay out. Chris Rawley built a third option. As founder and CEO of Harvest Returns, a platform with over 12,000 investors, he has spent a decade matching private capital with farming operations across row crops, grazing land, permanent crops and more. In this conversation, Chris breaks down why institutional investors have allocated to farmland for decades, what non-correlation with the stock market actually means for a portfolio, and why cash flow plus scarcity makes agricultural land one of the more durable long-term holds available to private investors.

He also goes places most guests do not. He covers the MaHA movement's potential downstream effects on conventional agriculture, why the ethanol mandate quietly underpins 40% of America's corn market, how global soybean production in Brazil is quietly pressuring Midwest row crop economics, and why the most dangerous Black Swan for farmland values is not tariffs but the long-term fate of federal subsidies.

For new investors, young farmers who cannot clear the entry barrier, and portfolio diversifiers looking to move money off Wall Street, this episode lays out how private agricultural investment actually works and what the next three years look like from someone watching it from the capital side.

 

Harvest Returns

https://www.harvestreturns.com/

 

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What Is Tax Code 1062 and What Does It Mean for Farmers Selling Land Right Now?

The biggest financial event in a farm family's life is often the one they are least prepared for. Mark Balzarini, an estate planning attorney with Helmuth and Johnson in the Twin Cities, has been working on farm succession plans since 2008 and breaks down the tools families need to understand before land changes hands.

The centerpiece of this conversation is Tax Code 1062, a provision introduced through the One Big Beautiful Bill that allows farmland owners to defer capital gains taxes over four years rather than paying the full hit at the time of sale. Mark explains who qualifies, what the 10-year agricultural use covenant means for buyers, how it compares to a 1031 exchange and Delaware Statutory Trust, and where the IRS is still building the rules as the statute gets implemented.

He also covers the fundamentals of stepped-up basis, contract for deed as a tax mitigation strategy, how LLCs and partnerships interact with succession planning, and why starting a transition plan five to six years early can be the difference between a clean handoff and a painful tax problem. For farm families with farming and non-farming heirs, his advice on keeping things equitable rather than just equal is worth the listen alone.

Helmuth & Johnson
https://hjlawfirm.com/

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