My Final Attempt NOT To Sell My Itta Bena Farm Land

DesotoCountyDawg

Well-known member
Nov 16, 2005
22,107
9,453
113
These are private companies building them and selling the electricity back to TVA or whomever the local utility is, they have to buy it back by law wherever they are. Makes more sense to put it out in "BFE" on this $2,000 per acre land and still farm it under the panels rather than on a city postage stamp size lot that sells for $20-$30 thousand behind Nissan doesn't it? Sure there are tax breaks for solar, but what do you call crop subsidies for that farm land? And what is "destroying the land" about the panels too? Do a search for "agrivoltaics" which is growing crops under the panels. Never mind, you don't read articles, because it may change your mind and make you admit you're wrong
The way they do these panels you can’t farm under them. Someone told me they’re going to use an autonomous lawn mower to cut grass under them because it’s so too short for anything else.

Plus they bury so much underground wiring from each panel I doubt they want you out there digging around in the dirt.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peewee.sixpack

The Peeper

Well-known member
Feb 26, 2008
12,085
5,297
113
The way they do these panels you can’t farm under them. Someone told me they’re going to use an autonomous lawn mower to cut grass under them because it’s so too short for anything else.

Plus they bury so much underground wiring from each panel I doubt they want you out there digging around in the dirt.
Article I read for this thread said they are a minimum of 8' above ground and are programmed to tilt and follow the sun. The crops were row crop vegetables so no need for combine type clearance
 

DesotoCountyDawg

Well-known member
Nov 16, 2005
22,107
9,453
113
Article I read for this thread said they are a minimum of 8' above ground and are programmed to tilt and follow the sun. The crops were row crop vegetables so no need for combine type clearance
The ones by us aren’t nearly that tall. It’s maybe 4 1/2 to 5 feet off the ground when tilted.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peewee.sixpack

Drebin

Well-known member
Aug 22, 2012
16,817
13,724
113
I hate to admit this but as a live long NE Ms resident I do not have a clue what part of the Delta Itta Bena is located. I know it’s west of me but when I get to the river I wouldn’t know whether to turn right, left, or around!
Right down the road from Moorhead. South of Mound Bayou. Can't miss it.
 

PooPopsBaldHead

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2017
7,954
5,006
113
Does hardwood timber increase the value? I don’t think there are too many hardwood mills left around here and I think the ones that are around aren’t very profitable. Most of the land I see cut now seems to leave the hardwood standing or what they cut down gets put in a giant pile to rot.
Hardwood is generally more valuable than softwood. On the stump, it's about double right now in Mississippi, but that's a loaded statement.

"Hardwood" represents a hundred someodd species and subspecies of trees in Mississippi. Same with "softwood." Within that hardwood category, many species are highly sought after, while others are virtually trash to many mills. If I'm cutting for railroad ties or board road, I might value your mixed hardwood stand full of gum, birch, and oak, but not nearly as much as a grade lumber mill might value a stand of oak, poplar, and maple.

Even within what many might consider a "species" (oak or maple for instance) there's a actually dozens if not hundreds of different sub-species that affect value. Oaks are broken into reds and whites. Red and white oaks have dozens of subspecies within each category. If you tell me you have a red oak stand that's full of blackjack oak, I'll tell you it's firewood. If you say it's shumard or cherrybark I'll tell you to go buy you a nice new pair of alligators, cause your coming into some money.***

So the gist is, if you have hardwood timber you probably need a good forester to come tell you what's what, don't want anyone cutting down a bunch of black walnut and using it for firewood or buying a new boat when they inherit a couple dozen acres full of slippery elm and sycamore.
 

Dawgbite

Well-known member
Nov 1, 2011
6,228
4,641
113
I worked in the frame side of the upholstered furniture business. Years back we had our own sawmill, our own drying yard that kept about 3 million feet of sawn hardwood lumber on it at any given time, and our own planer mill. Years ago the frame of a piece furniture was 90% hardwood and 10% plywood, that has completely flipped. It’s all plywood now. There is a hardwood chip mill in Amory that slowly but surely chipping every hardwood tree in NE Ms. When I say hardwood, I’m talking about poplar, oak, hickory, walnut, and the odd hackberry.. if things got scarce we would use high grade cotton wood but gum was a non starter.
 
  • Like
Reactions: She Mate Me

Xenomorph

Well-known member
Feb 15, 2007
13,494
4,211
113
True. But land is land. Currently 4 listings for land for sale in Itta Bena, ranging from 18 acres to 116 acres. Cheapest is $4,000 per acre, and gets up to $7,500
That's what they're asking for it. And I'm asking $1.9MM for my house....
 
  • Like
Reactions: stateu1

Xenomorph

Well-known member
Feb 15, 2007
13,494
4,211
113
Man.. this thread is peak SPS...

Arguments over wind turbines, solar panels, land prices, whether one should or should not build a house on a single acre of land suitable for row crops and how close New Albany is to the Delta... Never change, guys...
 

SyonaraStanz

Well-known member
Mar 5, 2010
3,187
542
113
Raise your rent. I know farmers in the Delta paying nearly $300/acre for good ground. Even if it’s non-irrigated you should be getting more than $114/acre.
 

stateu1

Well-known member
Mar 21, 2016
2,570
587
113
Man.. this thread is peak SPS...

Arguments over wind turbines, solar panels, land prices, whether one should or should not build a house on a single acre of land suitable for row crops and how close New Albany is to the Delta... Never change, guys...
Makes you miss the Covid arguments doesn't it?
 

ronpolk

Well-known member
May 6, 2009
8,119
2,609
113
I worked in the frame side of the upholstered furniture business. Years back we had our own sawmill, our own drying yard that kept about 3 million feet of sawn hardwood lumber on it at any given time, and our own planer mill. Years ago the frame of a piece furniture was 90% hardwood and 10% plywood, that has completely flipped. It’s all plywood now. There is a hardwood chip mill in Amory that slowly but surely chipping every hardwood tree in NE Ms. When I say hardwood, I’m talking about poplar, oak, hickory, walnut, and the odd hackberry.. if things got scarce we would use high grade cotton wood but gum was a non starter.
I do a lot of woodworking as a hobby and earning a little side income. I’ve made several items out of 100% hardwood and they are pretty for sure… but it’s hard to beat the strength and stability of plywood. Some things though are better all wood.
 

Dawgbite

Well-known member
Nov 1, 2011
6,228
4,641
113
I do a lot of woodworking as a hobby and earning a little side income. I’ve made several items out of 100% hardwood and they are pretty for sure… but it’s hard to beat the strength and stability of plywood. Some things though are better all wood.
When I retired five years ago I didn’t care if I ever smelled sawdust or saw a piece of wood but I recently built a staircase and I really enjoyed myself. The thing with engineered panels is the consistency , it takes the human out of it. At least in a production environment. Hardwood requires a good eye and experience to discern what is good or bad. CNC machinery takes the thinking out of the equation. We would buy large production cycles from sawmills , mostly poplar and oak, an at the end of their cycle they would fill the last load with whatever was mixed in that particular tract of timber and it would always be upscale not a downgrade. We would get in one or two bundles of the prettiest black walnut or hickory lumber you’ve ever seen. It killed my soul to see that stuff hit the ripsaw because it would eat a whole bundle of lumber in about five minutes.
 

vhdawg

Well-known member
Sep 29, 2004
3,901
890
113
There’s 40 windmills in Tunica county. Largest windmills in the world.

Windmills look ugly but at least you can still farm around it. I despise solar panels especially on productive farmland.
I've driven up to North Dakota a couple of times to visit my brother and those things are all over the midwest and big sky country. I find them mesmerizing to watch.
 

Boom Boom

Well-known member
Sep 29, 2022
1,942
1,091
113
Hardwood is generally more valuable than softwood. On the stump, it's about double right now in Mississippi, but that's a loaded statement.

"Hardwood" represents a hundred someodd species and subspecies of trees in Mississippi. Same with "softwood." Within that hardwood category, many species are highly sought after, while others are virtually trash to many mills. If I'm cutting for railroad ties or board road, I might value your mixed hardwood stand full of gum, birch, and oak, but not nearly as much as a grade lumber mill might value a stand of oak, poplar, and maple.

Even within what many might consider a "species" (oak or maple for instance) there's a actually dozens if not hundreds of different sub-species that affect value. Oaks are broken into reds and whites. Red and white oaks have dozens of subspecies within each category. If you tell me you have a red oak stand that's full of blackjack oak, I'll tell you it's firewood. If you say it's shumard or cherrybark I'll tell you to go buy you a nice new pair of alligators, cause your coming into some money.***

So the gist is, if you have hardwood timber you probably need a good forester to come tell you what's what, don't want anyone cutting down a bunch of black walnut and using it for firewood or buying a new boat when they inherit a couple dozen acres full of slippery elm and sycamore.
When I worked at a paper mill, they really didn't pay attention to any of that. They just paid by weight (and they checked the moisture content to make sure they weren't watering down the load). All the hardwood went in one line, the softwood another. I wonder if they were getting the rejects of both....
 

She Mate Me

Well-known member
Dec 7, 2008
9,645
6,194
113
When I worked at a paper mill, they really didn't pay attention to any of that. They just paid by weight (and they checked the moisture content to make sure they weren't watering down the load). All the hardwood went in one line, the softwood another. I wonder if they were getting the rejects of both....

A paper mill is not a lumber mill.
 

PooPopsBaldHead

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2017
7,954
5,006
113
I actually went to college and got a degree geared to working in the furniture industry when I graduated. I was about to pull the trigger on going to NC State because they had a great furniture program in the engineering school. At the last minute, I found out about a new furniture program and research center at State that was in the works for a few years down the road... I did some military time in between the start and finish of that degree (late 90's-mid 00's.) By the time I finished, it became very clear that if I wanted a long, lucrative career in the furniture industry, I should have majored in Mandarin. So when I graduated, I went into the hardwood lumber and plywood industry.

I worked in the frame side of the upholstered furniture business. Years back we had our own sawmill, our own drying yard that kept about 3 million feet of sawn hardwood lumber on it at any given time, and our own planer mill. Years ago the frame of a piece furniture was 90% hardwood and 10% plywood, that has completely flipped. It’s all plywood now. There is a hardwood chip mill in Amory that slowly but surely chipping every hardwood tree in NE Ms. When I say hardwood, I’m talking about poplar, oak, hickory, walnut, and the odd hackberry.. if things got scarce we would use high grade cotton wood but gum was a non starter.
Drying gum is an absolute bítch. I worked at a furniture factory with a similar setup. We dried gum by loading concrete weights on the top bunk... By weights, it was a solid slab of concrete 6" thick. About 70% was usable after, but the other 30% had to be ripped down and edge glued. Sycamore was terrible too. And of course cottonwood... Speaking of cottonwood, there's a company in Lubbock, Texas called O'Hair Shutters that somehow uses cottonwood.. I know Batesville Casket uses it, but caskets are kind a forgiving... Shutters are extremely difficult for woods that move in the slightest because they have to be so precise since ever shutter is custom made effectively... how those fools are drying cottonwood in Lubbock and getting it to stay dimensionally stable is one of the great mysteries of the hardwood industry. They never let any sales reps in and apparently keep it ultra secret in house as well. I know they buy it green and rail it into Lubbock and try it themselves.
I do a lot of woodworking as a hobby and earning a little side income. I’ve made several items out of 100% hardwood and they are pretty for sure… but it’s hard to beat the strength and stability of plywood. Some things though are better all wood.
Plywood is great for production costs, but is not stronger or more stable than properly dried hardwoods. Give me a properly dried oak, ash, maple, hickory or a thousand other things any day. I sold 40 containers a month of hardwood plywood and 80 truckloads of hardwood lumber a month at one point in time... 90% of which was going to cabinet and furniture manufacturers the rest went to high end millwork and flooring outfits.

Cabinets and furniture frames - Particleboard < Plywood < Hardwood
Trim and millwork - MDF < Finger Joint Pine < Hardwood
Flooring - Laminate < Engineered Wood < Solid Hardwood

When I retired five years ago I didn’t care if I ever smelled sawdust or saw a piece of wood but I recently built a staircase and I really enjoyed myself. The thing with engineered panels is the consistency , it takes the human out of it. At least in a production environment. Hardwood requires a good eye and experience to discern what is good or bad. CNC machinery takes the thinking out of the equation. We would buy large production cycles from sawmills , mostly poplar and oak, an at the end of their cycle they would fill the last load with whatever was mixed in that particular tract of timber and it would always be upscale not a downgrade. We would get in one or two bundles of the prettiest black walnut or hickory lumber you’ve ever seen. It killed my soul to see that stuff hit the ripsaw because it would eat a whole bundle of lumber in about five minutes.
The furniture frame industry buys pretty low end hardwoods... As they should. That definitely makes it harder. And honestly, most plants in MS are/were building pretty low end upholstered furniture. Flipping to panels was a no brainer for promotional furniture. I even saw some using osb for frames. The coolest thing I remember seeing in furniture factory was a CNC bandsaw. You could stack like 15 sheets of 23/32" plywood and cut them all at once. The table moved around the saw. You couldn't get real intricate, but for basic rails on a sofa, it was hard to beat the production. 1 CNC bandsaw could out pace 6-8 CNC routers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: She Mate Me

PooPopsBaldHead

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2017
7,954
5,006
113
When I worked at a paper mill, they really didn't pay attention to any of that. They just paid by weight (and they checked the moisture content to make sure they weren't watering down the load). All the hardwood went in one line, the softwood another. I wonder if they were getting the rejects of both....
Pulpwood is kinda the trash. It's all valued as such.

Here's the easy way to thing about the values of timber. At my local Home Depot here are the prices of 3 kiln dried 1" x 4" x 8' boards you might use for a project.

Pine = $8.85
Oak = $35.60
Walnut = $71.60

While not one for one, as there are other costs (drying/sorting/freight) but back at the timber/log level you still get considerably more for oak and walnut than pine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: She Mate Me

Anon1704414204

Well-known member
Jan 4, 2024
880
727
93
My land selling adventure just took an interesting STATE Football twist. Anthony Steen is an agent outta Cleveland who played OL for Lee Academy whose very interested in my property. Croom only offered him a Grey Shirt and Nutt told him he wasn't crootin' Academy Players. So Saban offers a Red Shirt and he goes on to play for them and got some Natty Rings. He later played a few years for The Dolphins and Cardinals. Sickens me to think just how much of a Lazy Dubmass Croom wuz. Seems like a real nice guy over the phone btw. Says he's gonna go check it out personally in the A.M. and holler directly back.
 
Last edited:

MedDawg

Active member
Apr 24, 2009
4,589
291
83
$4,200 per year if you are going to sell for $75k is 5.6% interest and you get to keep the land.

Are they paying the taxes?

If I was getting 5.6% and the tenant was reliable, I don't know if I'd be in a hurry to sell in this environment unless I just needed the cash.
Take the $75k and put it all on State over 6.5 wins***
 
  • Haha
Reactions: johnson86-1

Dawgbite

Well-known member
Nov 1, 2011
6,228
4,641
113
I actually went to college and got a degree geared to working in the furniture industry when I graduated. I was about to pull the trigger on going to NC State because they had a great furniture program in the engineering school. At the last minute, I found out about a new furniture program and research center at State that was in the works for a few years down the road... I did some military time in between the start and finish of that degree (late 90's-mid 00's.) By the time I finished, it became very clear that if I wanted a long, lucrative career in the furniture industry, I should have majored in Mandarin. So when I graduated, I went into the hardwood lumber and plywood industry.


Drying gum is an absolute bítch. I worked at a furniture factory with a similar setup. We dried gum by loading concrete weights on the top bunk... By weights, it was a solid slab of concrete 6" thick. About 70% was usable after, but the other 30% had to be ripped down and edge glued. Sycamore was terrible too. And of course cottonwood... Speaking of cottonwood, there's a company in Lubbock, Texas called O'Hair Shutters that somehow uses cottonwood.. I know Batesville Casket uses it, but caskets are kind a forgiving... Shutters are extremely difficult for woods that move in the slightest because they have to be so precise since ever shutter is custom made effectively... how those fools are drying cottonwood in Lubbock and getting it to stay dimensionally stable is one of the great mysteries of the hardwood industry. They never let any sales reps in and apparently keep it ultra secret in house as well. I know they buy it green and rail it into Lubbock and try it themselves.

Plywood is great for production costs, but is not stronger or more stable than properly dried hardwoods. Give me a properly dried oak, ash, maple, hickory or a thousand other things any day. I sold 40 containers a month of hardwood plywood and 80 truckloads of hardwood lumber a month at one point in time... 90% of which was going to cabinet and furniture manufacturers the rest went to high end millwork and flooring outfits.

Cabinets and furniture frames - Particleboard < Plywood < Hardwood
Trim and millwork - MDF < Finger Joint Pine < Hardwood
Flooring - Laminate < Engineered Wood < Solid Hardwood


The furniture frame industry buys pretty low end hardwoods... As they should. That definitely makes it harder. And honestly, most plants in MS are/were building pretty low end upholstered furniture. Flipping to panels was a no brainer for promotional furniture. I even saw some using osb for frames. The coolest thing I remember seeing in furniture factory was a CNC bandsaw. You could stack like 15 sheets of 23/32" plywood and cut them all at once. The table moved around the saw. You couldn't get real intricate, but for basic rails on a sofa, it was hard to beat the production. 1 CNC bandsaw could out pace 6-8 CNC routers.
We had a CNC bandsaw and a second one on order when I left. It would churn out some parts. We had a plywood rip saw that was made locally by a machine shop. It had a 5 foot arbor with aluminum spacers between the blades and had to be manually set up which took some time but once it was set up it would rip an entire bundle of plywood in under 4 minutes. It screamed like a banshee , you could hear it running out in the parking lot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PooPopsBaldHead

turkish

Member
Aug 22, 2012
879
204
43
My land selling adventure just took an interesting STATE Football twist. Anthony Steen is an agent outta Cleveland who played OL for Lee Academy who’s very interested in my property. Croom only offered him a Grey Shirt and Nutt told him he wasn't crootin' Academy Players. So Saban offers a Red Shirt and he goes on to play for them and got some Natty Rings. He later played a few years for The Dolphins and Cardinals. Sickens me to think just how much of a Lazy Dubmass Croom wuz. Seems like a real nice guy over the phone btw. Says he's gonna go check it out personally in the A.M. and holler directly back.
Interesting in buying it or listing it. He’s a realtor. IOW, he’s probably interested in flipping it if you’ll sell it for $2k/ac.
 

Anon1704414204

Well-known member
Jan 4, 2024
880
727
93
Interesting in buying it or listing it. He’s a realtor. IOW, he’s probably interested in flipping it if you’ll sell it for $2k/ac.
Correct which is why he'd hafta offer a sizeable chunk over what I already have on the table.
 

DesotoCountyDawg

Well-known member
Nov 16, 2005
22,107
9,453
113
Raise your rent. I know farmers in the Delta paying nearly $300/acre for good ground. Even if it’s non-irrigated you should be getting more than $114/acre.
If they’re paying 300 dollar rent they aren’t making money on it or it’s at least a very tight margin. And just because someone is paying 300 dollars on that doesn’t mean he needs to charge anywhere near that for his land, all depends on how productive it is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Anon1704414204

mcdawg22

Well-known member
Sep 18, 2004
10,970
4,893
113
There’s more than that south of there at Lula. Can’t wait until the first tornado comes through to see how that turns out.
I would guess a lot of electricity would be created for a very short amount of time.
 

She Mate Me

Well-known member
Dec 7, 2008
9,645
6,194
113
If they’re paying 300 dollar rent they aren’t making money on it or it’s at least a very tight margin. And just because someone is paying 300 dollars on that doesn’t mean he needs to charge anywhere near that for his land, all depends on how productive it is.

DCD,

Is there any goodness left in heavily farmed rowcrop land that isn't provided by outside fertilizer inputs these days? I assume the original reason the Delta was productive was the rich land created by past river flooding.

I guess I'm asking what makes a particular piece of rowcrop land more or less productive.
 

L4Dawg

Well-known member
Oct 27, 2016
6,248
3,482
113
What size is the smallest parcel? Hell, forget farming. Up in North AL, right now you got any land going for $50k/100k per acre if its even within 30 minutes of Huntsville, Decatur, Athens, or the Shoals. $2k per acre sounds like some Great Depression level shít.

Have you been approached by any builders / developers by chance?
Developers? In Itta Bena? LOL.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: She Mate Me

Bulldog Bruce

Well-known member
Nov 1, 2007
3,493
2,472
113
There’s 40 windmills in Tunica county. Largest windmills in the world.

Windmills look ugly but at least you can still farm around it. I despise solar panels especially on productive farmland.
I saw a picture where a car parking lot had solar panels that also allowed for covered parking to exist. You would think that type of solution would be best usage of all that fixed use space that can't be used for anything else. That is what actually thinking looks like.

Solar.png
 

johnson86-1

Well-known member
Aug 22, 2012
12,234
2,459
113
I saw a picture where a car parking lot had solar panels that also allowed for covered parking to exist. You would think that type of solution would be best usage of all that fixed use space that can't be used for anything else. That is what actually thinking looks like.

View attachment 624718
The problem is economies of scale. Rooftop solar makes sense from a space point of view, but it still doesn't pencil out economically without subsidies because of installation costs.

Granted solar farms don't either, but they at least pencil out after subsidies. A lot of rooftop solar doesn't even do that. If we are going to centrally plan, I would assume the smartest thing would be to basically not put any solar anywhere with a large roof (i.e., big box retailers) anywhere it's sunny, then only after building that out, move to either utility scale projects on otherwise non-productive land near transmission infrastructure and then residential.
 
Get unlimited access today.

Pick the right plan for you.

Already a member? Login