When planning our annual Harvest Auction, our goal is always to hold the event after a majority of farm harvest is complete, but admittedly that unseasonably warm fall had us scratching our heads for a bit. Nevertheless, it seemed like the labor-intensive beets and potatoes wrapped up just in time. 

This reminded me of a note that Kim Droog, owner of Legacy CPA in Grafton, had shared with me earlier this spring regarding gifts of commodities, which could be another way to support UMC. She said it’s a great tax-savings opportunity for charitable farmers, so I wanted to mention it in this column. 

One way to do this would be for the farmer to fill out a form that directs his or her co-op or elevator to have a specified number of bushels or even livestock gifted to the North Dakota Community Foundation. The farmer can also designate which NDCF fund that the sale of these commodities would go toward, including the Lynn D Ebert Memorial Fund for Unity Medical Center Grafton. Then the farmer is eligible for tax reductions greater than if he or she donates cash since they can still deduct the expenses for growing and harvesting the commodities, reducing federal and state taxes without having to itemize. Self-employed farmers would have an even greater savings due to the Medicare and Social Security taxes paid on farm income. 

You can read more about this at www.ndcf.net/give/gifting-agricultural-commodities.html, and I would also encourage you to talk to your tax advisor if you have questions about this.