Are you looking for farm or agricultural land here in Douglas County, Oregon? G. Stiles is the areas leader in agricultural and farmland and Denny Kruse, one of our agricultural land experts, walks through some things you should consider before you buy farmland in the area.
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Video Transcription
Hi, I’m Denny Kruse, a broker with G. Stiles Realty, specializing in agricultural land and property in Douglas County. Today I’d like to talk to you about opportunities for farming and agriculture in the Douglas County area and show you an example of an operation that I have listed for sale in the area.
We’re standing on a farm that was purchased four years ago, and it was pasture land, undeveloped, and the owner of this Douglas County property had the foresight to envision this becoming a nice organic, high production farm. He had irrigation water available, which had never been used on this, but he went through the process of getting water rights and irrigation for the entire property. He secured the water rights and that allowed him to develop high value crops such as olives, he even does industrial hemp, and this is all certified organic.
What that brings to the table for the owner of this property after the development, is the extra value that he receives in the market for organic products. He receives a real premium and he feels, well worth the effort to go through that process.
Now we’re standing in front of a planting of hearty kiwi. That’s sort of a new crop to this area. It’s actually a small, berry-sized kiwi fruit that has no fuzz on the outside, so you eat it like a grape. And this planting is organic and you can see that it has a weed barrier down, it has drip irrigation and trellis.
When you’re looking for agricultural land in Douglas County, you want to find ground that is usable, not only in slope, but in soil quality, and in Douglas County we have soils maps that will at first glance tell you what soil types they are and how well the soil is drained and how tillable it is. Probably the biggest key feature that you’re looking for in agricultural land in the Umpqua Valley is the ability to irrigate. That not only increases product, but there are a lot of crops that you cannot grow here without irrigation. So water, soil quality, elevation not too high so that you have frost problems, more down in the valleys, those are all key features.
This property which I have listed, in particular is not only ideally suited for these crops that I’ve mentioned, the industrial hemp, the hearty kiwi, and the olives, but it’s also prime area for growing wine grapes. And with irrigation, which you need to get them established, and the ability to have well draining soil, it would produce high quality wine grapes as well. The location being next to I-5 in proximity would be wonderful for that.
I’ve been in agriculture my entire life. Love farming and have the expertise and the knowledge to help with agricultural farm land and the needs of people. And G. Stiles is the right office to come to when you’re asking questions or in need of farm land.
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