Congress Passes Tax Extenders bill

Dec 24, 2014

On Dec. 16 the U.S. Senate approved legislation to extend a number of expiring tax provisions and President Barack Obama signed it into law on Dec. 19.

The bill, H.R. 5771, called the Tax Increase Prevention Action of 2014, passed the Senate by a 76-14 vote. It passed the House on Dec. 3 by a 378-46 vote.

The bill included the extension through tax year 2014 for dozens of individual and small business expenses. The key ones for farmers are Section 179 small business expensing, which allows small businesses to immediately expense up to $500,000 instead of depreciating them over time and there will be an additional 50 percent bonus depreciation for the purchase of new capital assets.
American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman praised Congress for passing the bill while noting that a long-term solution is needed.

"Thanks to tax provisions like Section 179 for small business expensing and bonus depreciation, hard-working Americans will be free to put their money directly back to work on their land and in their local communities," Stallman said. "

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.