Two Kentucky auctions result in lucrative sales

WEBSTER COUNTY, Ky. — The Bill and Louise Hatley Trust auction resulted in the sale of 274 acres of Webster County land for $1,168,711. The auction was conducted by Kurtz Auction & Realty. The rolling to hilly land sold in 11 tracts and averaged $4,266 per acre.

The Hatleys were involved in the civil and educational life of Webster and surrounding counties. The proceeds of the sale of their land will go to the Hatley Endowed Scholarship at Murray State University to benefit area students.

Three contiguous tracts totaling 56 acres sold for $6,925 per acre. The remaining tracts, containing steeper land and some wooded acreage, ranged from $2,500-$4,500 per acre. The two homes with a few acres sold for $70,000 each.

The auction attracted area and regional farm buyers. Farm machinery, furniture and collectibles were also auctioned.

In a separate Kentucky sale also conducted by Kurtz, in Daviess County, a  gently rolling to hilly tract with farmstead recently sold at auction in seven tracts for $840,573, or $8,555 per acre.

The older home with farm buildings located 10 miles east of Owensboro sold with 12.11 acres for $185,000. The tracts without buildings ranged from a 2.47-acre tract at $16,000 per acre to a 40.22-acre hill crop and pasture land tract selling for $5,700 per acre.

The 86.14 acres of unimproved land average $7,610 per acre. Area farmers and people interested in home sites were the buyers.

To learn more, contact David Hawes, auctioneer, at david@kurtzauction.com or 800-264-1204.

  Business Briefs

Farm Bureau announces final four in Ag Innovation Challenge

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), in partnership with Farm Credit, has announced the final four teams in the 2019 FB Ag Innovation Challenge.

The four finalist teams were awarded $15,000 each. They are: AgHelp Corp. of Belding, Mich., with team lead Feliciano Paredes; Elite OviGen, Inc. of Beverly Hills, Fla., with team lead Anette Skoog; FarmlandFinder of Ames, Iowa, with team lead Steven Brockshus; and Glean LLC of Farmville, N.C., with team lead Laura Hearn.

The final four, selected from the 10 semi-finalist teams, have all expenses paid to compete in a live pitch competition at AFBF’s 100th Annual Convention in New Orleans on Jan. 13, 2019. The final four teams will compete to win the Farm Bureau Rural Entrepreneur of the Year award and $15,000 (chosen by judges), for a total of $30,000, and the People’s Choice award and $10,000 (chosen by public vote), for a total of $25,000.

Startup funds for the 2019 Ag Innovation Challenge are provided by sponsors Farm Credit, John Deere, Bayer Crop Science, Country Financial, Farm Bureau Financial Services and Farm Bureau Bank. The competition provides an opportunity for individuals to showcase ideas and business innovations in agriculture. This is the fifth year of the Challenge, which is the first national business competition focused exclusively on rural entrepreneurs launching food and agriculture businesses.