No Soil Test. No Measurement. No Credible Valuation.

Section 180 isn’t about making estimates.

It’s about measuring an asset.

When you purchase farmland, you’re acquiring more than acres. You’re acquiring the nutrients that previous owners invested in over decades of fertilizer applications. Those nutrients can have significant economic value but only if they can be identified and measured.

That’s where a professional soil test comes in.

A soil test is the foundation of a credible Section 180 opinion. It provides objective, property-specific data about the nutrients that existed when the farm changed hands. Without that data, you’re no longer valuing the property you’re buying you’re relying on assumptions.

At Soil Tax Guys, we live by a simple principle:

No soil test. No measurement. No credible valuation.

Every farm is different.

Two neighboring fields can have dramatically different fertility levels despite sharing the same soil type and county. Years of management decisions, crop rotations, manure applications, and fertilizer programs all influence nutrient levels. That’s why county averages and generalized assumptions simply aren’t enough.

A professional soil test answers the questions that matter:

• What nutrients were actually present?
• How much of these nutrients existed?
• Were fertility levels above agronomic optimal levels?
• What asset did the buyer actually acquire?

Those answers form the basis of a defensible opinion of value.

Timing is equally important.

The ideal time to collect soil samples is immediately after closing and before any fertilizer, manure, or lime is applied. Once the new owner changes the soil, the baseline condition begins to disappear. Waiting until the next growing season can make it much more difficult to determine what fertility existed at the time of purchase.

Think of it this way.

If you were buying a commercial building, you wouldn’t estimate its square footage. You’d measure it.

If you were buying timberland, you wouldn’t guess how many merchantable trees were standing. You’d cruise the timber.

Farmland should be no different.

If you’re claiming that the soil contains a valuable nutrient asset, the first step is measuring that
asset.

That’s why every Section 180 engagement we perform begins in the field not at a desk.

Because the strongest tax positions are built on the strongest agronomic evidence.

No soil test. No measurement. No credible valuation.

Alec Bean

Alec Bean is the CEO of Soil Tax Guys, he is a Certified Crop Advisor and has spent his entire career in Agronomic Consulting relating to soil fertility. He can be reached at [email protected] to discuss how Soil Fertility Tax Deductions fit into your land buying strategy.