The Iola Register from Iola, Kansas • 8

THE IOLA REGISTER. SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 19. 1977 Flint Hills PAGE a About foreign owners ranch manager is sensitive "We need more capital, and probably more capital than we can generate internally out of profits or even through borrowing, Duncan said "1 think, however, we should know about these transactions. Certainly we should know before we put into place public policy on the issue." Stitz said.

"I think it is a legitimate concern because once this land has passed into other hands, well have to become concerned." In contrast, Duncan says he's not ready to say foreign investment of agricultural land is bad, noting it brings much needed capital into a sagging agricultural market. EUREKA. Kan. (AP The bidders wore cowboy boots and the cattle were Kansas-bred, but there was something alien about this ptc-turebook glimpse of the American 1 eartland. None of it was locally owned, not the uction barn where the cream-faced erefords were sold nor the brick lansion rising up from behind rought iron gates nor the grazing md which stretched as far as you ould see.

In fact, the owners of this sprawling attle ranch weren't even Americans. Gary Longacre. a big-boned cat-eman in leather chaps, sold 28 emales and 78 bulls at the annual sale earlier this month And at pretty good prices, he's pleased to say What he is not anxious to talk about, however, are the owners ol the cattle ranch, a wealthy West German tamilv who rarely visit their lavish spread in the picturesque Flint Hills of eastern Kansas Being a poor man all my life, I find it hard to understand people like the Flicks who live in a fishbowl, Ixwgacre said, pulling a reporter out ot earshot of a circle of Kansas farmers in western hats and dusty boots. "I don't talk about them." The Flicks, heirs to the Mercedes-Benz fortune, bought Flint Hills Hereford Ranch from a Wichita oilman about eight years ago and hired Longacre. a local rancher with a good reputation, to manage it.

Legally, the purchaser was a Maryland corporation controlled by the Flick family. The actual sale and management agreement were handled through non-Kansas firms. It is not an isolated case. Increasingly, foreign interests are buying huge tracts of American farmland. They are German industrialists.

Italian bankers, millionaire families from the Netherlands and wealthy tycoons from Argentina. They are people who have typically been from landed families in Europe where there is a history of ownership of farm real estate, said Marvin Duncan. agricultural economist for the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City. Further, they are people equally well-to-do and interested in diversifying their portfolios but concerned about questions of political stability in their own country." he said. And they are quite good business people and interested in profit.

As an investment. farmland has performed better than the stock market over the past years Exactly who is buying American farmland, and how much, remains largely a mystery. By anybody's calculations, the total is small when compared with all the farmland in the Lnited States. Nevertheless, Kenneth Krause, an analyst with the S. Department of Agriculture, said purchases to foreign interests are growing substantially.

The newest buyers in the market are from the oil-rich countries, although Oppenheimer said much of the Middle Eastern money is going into food packing and processing, not farmland. "Thats not light capital, he said. "Those people are out to make the highest interest possible on their money. They are looking for another type of investment, something where they can turn their money over. "The German and French and Italians are looking for farmland, something with a long-term investment potential, something to leave the grandchildren," he said.

Other real estate firms across the country are doing a booming business in the farm market. And big banks, especially Northern Trust and Continental Illinois in Chicago, reportedly are handling the lions share of the foreign business. In all cases, names are kept confidential. Wary of the xenophobia of American farmers and disenchant from officials back in their native countries, foreign families sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to conceal their identities. In one case, a West German investor reportedly contacted a Canadian realty firm, which contacted a Wyoming broker, who contacted a Chicago bank, which hired a statewide Kansas broker, who in turn found a local broker to handle the sale of a Kansas farm.

Such maneuvering has many farmers and agricultural experts frustrated and angry. "Were up against absolute secrecy. We dont know whos buying what," said the Rev. John Stitz, director of rural development for the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan. "Hearsay is the only way local communities find out, but they usually can't document it," he said.

"The capital is coming in, that we know because the land is being purchased. What we dont know is who is doing it. Stitz said he is concerned that wealthy foreign families and absentee owners are moving in and buying farmland at prices well out of reach for the average farmer. An Iowa State University study in 1975 pinpoined 54 inquiries and 30 transactions involving foreign investors. virtually all cases where top grade farmland sold at prices that were at or above the fair market value of comperable land in the area.

Once this happens, theres no reversing it. There is no way out, A S. Department of Commerce study of alien direct involvement in the United States as of the end of 1974 shows that 4 9 million acres of land were foreign-owned and that almost 63 million acres were leased by foreign-owned American enterprises. Of that total, only about 22 percent, or 1 million acres, was identified by those in the agricultural sector. How ever, the study is incomplete.

It does not include property held exclusively for personal use or holdings less than 200 acres or tracts owned by small business enterprises. Fore'gn investors are generally reluctant to announce their purchases and reporting laws are largely ineffective. A few foreign transactions are known: Prince Lichtensteins 10,000 acre farm in Texas' Red River area; the Busonis' Norris farm in Illinois; the Metternichs 2,135 acres in Iowa; the Japanese Kikamo farm in Wisconsin; a 2 million bushel grain elevator in Salina, purchased by Mitsubishi, Japan's number one trading company giant. Seeking anonymity, foreign investors may buy land through a series of intermediaries or invest in large-scale American agribusiness. For example, Saudi Arabian interests purchased 15 per cent of the Arizona-Colorado Land and Cattle a firm which owns and leases over 1 million acres of land.

It operates cattle ranches in several states and has business interests in a beefpacking plant, cattle feedlots, a commodity futures, brokerage firms, a real estate company, natural resources, engineering firms and a bank. Perhaps the most popular spot for foreign investors in recent years has been California, although purchases are occurring across the Midwest and in the fertile farm country of the Southeast. "Over the last four years, weve sold about $70 million in real estate to foreign investors, some grazing land and some farmland," said Reed Op-penheimer of Oppenheimer Industries, a brokerage and land management firm in Kansas City. This year alone, Oppenheiiuer Industries has sold some $8 million worth of farmland to foreign investors, much of it in Missouri and Arkansas. Most recently, the firm has handled the sale of 1,000 acres to a German family and some 4,000 acres to an Italian interest, both from rich Marais des Cygnes bottomland in Bates County, Mo.

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Department of Agriculture are forcing farmers into bankruptcy over low crop prices, an organizer of the proposed nation-wide farmers strike said Thursday night. Charles Atkins, Cimarron, told an audience of 400 farmers and their wives in Lyons that the co-ops have manipulated the grain market to make exorbitant profits while farmers go broke. Most of the audience rose to their feet in support of the proposed farm strike. In a related development, strike organizers announced a strike rally in Hays Nov. 27.

A crowd of between 5.000 and 7, 000 are expected for the 2 pm rally. Atkins told the Lyons group the strike scheduled for Dec 14 would DYNABRITE PICTURE TUBE Come. Something Really New from Quasar! ON 40 CHANNEL NO. 77-882 CB RADIO ,9 88 IT 088 NOW NO. 77-338 RADIOsiC $147.88 NO.

31-5811 CB RADIO REG. $84.88 All CB RADIOS NO. 77-830 CB RADIO WAS $78.88 NO. 77-883 CB RADIO WAS $129.88 NOW NOW NOW 88 AND AUCTION 80 ACRES ANDERSON COUNTY, near WELDA, KS. OFFERED IN ONE TRACT Saturday, Home Barns Cattle Shed Dec.

3,1977 Granary -Pond 2:30 P.M. PAUL PERSINGER, Trustee continue until farmers receive 100 percent parity for their products. He also said USDA credibility dropped substantiality when officials revealed that their estimates of the Russian wheat crop had been inaccurate. Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland announced last week U.S. predictions of a 216 billion bushel Russian harvest were wrong, shortly after U.S.S.R.

spokesmen said the harvest would be 194 billion bushels. Atkins said farmers would stop producing, selling and buying agricultural products during the strike. He said wheat farmers wont plant their 1978 crop if the strike continues into next year. Washington thinks we're bluffing, but were not," Atkins said. We'll strike on the 14th.

I 6 down at the Aucion th balance a closing on Jar jar 5 5 978 possessor that time Down payment is fO be tp fAftl L'7fF (V ROW AClOUNf land shall sell Sublet to owners 2 4 hour confirmation Seller shnH pay all 1 9 7 7 raxes Sellers mmerol nqhts qo with property All mformotior deemed relioble but not guaranteed Auctioneers or acting as oqents only Any warranties ore betwepr buyer ood seller Announcements mode sole day take precedence Property selling where iS-OS'S Subiec 0 restrictions reservations easements community controcts ond onmq order if ony now existing ogams' soid property i for financing we suqqest you see youi local banker or qualified buyer may finance throuqh the Federal land Bonk ot Ottawa or the FmH A at lola Kan well advonce of sale date REAL ESTATE RICHARD PRATHER Auctioneer tel men Phone Jit-431 -6MB KlnceM. Kan a W00i Mwpto Keneee MOST AUCTION SERVICE Produces a smaller dot we than our previous tube tor a Sharply OCosed picture FINANCING AVAILABLE FACTORY AUTHORIZED SERVICE While Supply lists! 5 DEALER Phone (3161 36S5932 (316) 36S 5941 PORTABLE Model WP3402 COLOR TV Special Value Bright, sharp picture 100 Solid State Service Miser" Chassis Uses less energy than a 60 watt light bulb Easy-to-carry weighs only 28 lbs. Stabilized Power Supply System 3 lfs Sou Nvr'hrW of lo'o "an 1 2 an A ic on signs urd pe.r miles ett prv 0 iVjpmaTion yr Pe'v for mo'he- louro fVs nqpr The, hovf4 1 sell Lp home place 7 7 Hues ate ft 'i ater avoilablp jpon payment of tpp ur i ipn cation approval This tract is in gas storage 'uei This 80 acre form is regl sVeper on extra sol'd arm home SPvP'Ol boms and sels Tbe bOvse has an excellent foundat on os rf xpoce good roof b'Q rO'T (Wh 7 waiting tor vOti to mdecoroe The 40 yiP ime new Tnere are 3 other hams 34 to 36 36 36 24 oil wth good tm roots Also a )6 30' drive throuqh granary with good root and omr smoller buildings There are 27 acres tillable wth me rest oosUire and lots Some ot the posture un.id he tilled siees MIDWEST aVUTD STORE Radio haek FO INFORMATION EARL LIZER EARL F. LIZER OFFICE 7 207 South Jefferson lola. Kansas 66749 Phone Oemert.

Ken M032 201 Garnett m. REAL ESTATE MIKE SIGG OWNER HOURS: MON SAT 8AM- 5:30 OPEN THURSDAY NITIS Till 1:00 I.