Month: September 2020

We do not propose to assert equal rights to land by keeping land common, letting any one use any part of it at any time. We do not propose the task, impossible in the present state of society, of dividing land in equal shares; still less the yet more impossible task of keeping it so divided.

We propose –

leaving land in the private possession of individuals, with full liberty on their part to give, sell or bequeath it—simply to levy on it for public uses a tax that shall equal the annual value of the land itself, irrespective of the use made of it or the improvements on it. And since this would provide amply for the need of public revenues, we would accompany this tax on land values with the repeal of all taxes now levied on the products and processes of industry—which taxes, since they take from the earnings of labour, we hold to be infringements of the right of property.

https://www.henrygeorgefoundation.org/the-science-of-economics/letter-to-pope-leo-xiii.html

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USA Land Prices.

https://www.agprofessional.com/article/us-farm-real-estate-60-acre

The average farm real estate values for the U.S. is $3,160 per acre in 2019. That’s up $60 from 2018, according to USDA’s 2019 Land Values Summary.  ( AgWeb )

The average farm real estate values for the U.S. is $3,160 per acre in 2019. That’s up $60 from 2018, according to USDA’s 2019 Land Values Summary. 

England land prices.

Agricultural land values in England and Wales continue to fall

The average price of bare agricultural land in England and Wales has dipped slightly, down by 0.8% in the third quarter of 2019 to £6,975 per acre, the latest index report shows.

This takes the total decline over the 12 month period to 1% and marks years of decline with average prices now down 9% over five years, but still 40% higher than a decade ago.

The Knight Frank farmland index report says that given the current two big issues facing the agricultural sector, falling commodity prices and continued Brexit uncertainty, an annual fall of just 1% is a remarkably resilient performance.

It suggests that robust demand and limited supply help to explain why the market remains relatively steady. In terms of supply, fewer than 100,000 acres had been advertised for sale at the time of writing in Farmers Weekly, a year on year decline of 44%. Few vendors seem willing to test the market, despite values holding up.

Looking at demand, rollover relief continues to be the motivational driver for many purchasers. The recent sale of a large farming portfolio with multiple shareholders has only added to the pool of potential buyers in the East Anglian region.

Committed farming businesses are also looking beyond Brexit and are keen to secure more land if it becomes available, according to Andrew Shirley, head of rural research at Knight Frank. ‘A farmer recently told me he paid over £10,000 per acre to secure vacant possession over a block of land his family had been renting under a traditional tenancy,’ he said.

He pointed out, however, are extremely variable, ranging from over £10,000 per acre on a number of deals Knight Frank has been involved with to around £6,000per acre for land in places like Lincolnshire where there are fewer rollover led buyers.

‘I expect the market to remain flat for the rest of the year while farmers digest the implications of any Brexit developments,’ he added.

Land Value Taxation.

In Kenya, land prices are high because the land laws do not discourage holding of idle land hence low supply which equals to high demand which causes high prices.

In England, USA and other 1st world countries, their land laws are designed to discourage holding land idle through use of land value taxation. Every land is levied a tax per acre. Only multi billionaires can afford to keep paying the high land tax on idle land in those countries. Most people find its makes more economical sense to sell off idle land instead of holding it.

Henry George explained the concept of land value taxation in the 1890s in USA when the Catholic Church and the English Monarchy owned most land in Manhattan. He wrote to the Pope then and the discussion that ensured thereafter gave birth to the concept of land value taxation . Land value taxation is usually a win-win in that the land owners who would like to keep paying the high tax for idle land are allowed to keep it idle and their tax goes to improve the economy and infrastructure. Land owners who would like to keep their land are then forced to make their lands productive through constructing buildings for rent, sale or farming. Th profits made from this enterprise is then used to pay off the land tax hence a win win.

Architct Francis Gichuhi Kamau.

0721410684

Topic: Rotary Thursdays 7pm
Start Time : Sep 3, 2020 06:58 PM

Meeting Recording:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/UaTdNV3l7IRm8kPSc2-NzI549WUlxTn61jDsqPVgkonBENsdZqkpOyABCIWphkjk.ZJBCXfEaAkTxFYcy

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Monetisation of an organisation can be easily done using digital marketing. This has several advantages such as ease of target marketing, ease of spread of reach to more regions and countries and now with COVID with us, reduces in face person to person marketing meetings hence much safer.

One of the best methods to monetize is coming up with unique and creative content that resonates and captures the attention of the specific target market. The content then attracts potential customers who you can then convert into paying clients at a later date. Content is best laid out to potential customers through a website that aggregates and feeds into social media networks from a central point.

Bill Gates and his 1996 predictions.

Bill Gates, in 1996, when the internet was relatively new, wrote in his essay titled Content Is King . He predicted that every businessperson or organisation will be able to easily publish their content and monetise their organisations without heavy IT or marketing expertise.

His prophesy came to pass 24 years later to the current times. Digital software such as WordPress has now enabled anyone without deep IT and marketing knowledge to become a publisher of content. If the content is unique and beneficial enough to the particular target group, then the publisher can easily start a conversation with the potential customer which will in turn lead to business.

WordPress.

This is a free website host that is very easy for anyone without IT expertise to log in and create their own website . 34% of the content in the internet and nearly 60% of blogs in the internet are powered through WordPress.

WordPress enables ease of managing content online where someone can be able to post the same content simultaneously into many social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and Twitter.

Matt Mullenweg . Control of 34% of the internet through WordPress.

Matt Mullenweg was born in 1984. He dropped out of the University of Houston where he was pursuing a degree in political science and started WordPress thereafter.

WordPress powers many Rotary club websites worldwide.

Search Engine Optimisation.

Other aspects such as Site Engine Optimisation will come to play naturally as the publisher pushes his or her content into the internet. For example, Rotary Club of Ngong Hills website hosted for free at wordpress.com. When a publisher posts pictures or stories describing a Rotary activity such as a hike into the Ngong hills, alot of key words are picked by Search engines such as Google or Yahoo . These key words are what the Search engines will use to direct a potential customer searching for some particular information in a specific area eg a group of people would be searching for type of trees that grows on the Ngong hills. They will be directed in their search into the Rotary club of Ngong hills website where a conversation can commence which can lead to conversion into potential members for example.

Plug ins.

WordPress has plug in applications that can be installed freely that can transform the website into a Zoom-like online meeting place. Same case applies to any type of business.

Other free plug in applications such as Revive Old Posts can be installed such that they can post the articles into several social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter automatically several times a day. This increases the number of potential customers to be reached greatly at zero cost.

Jetpack plugin, also available for free, can be added to enable data analysis on the statistics and type of visitors coming to read content into a particular website.

Decreased Attention span.

With alot of online content these days, attention span has decreased significantly , meaning that for an organisations content to be noticed, it has to be unique and consistent. Organisations with many people can utilize these numbers by having most of its members posting pictures or stories online on their website so as to try and compete for the attention span of interested people or customers. The average American checks out his smart phone a few times every hour. This resonates round the world. Organisations will then need to keep pushing content to compete for this target client’s attention among other competitors.

Architect Francis Gichuhi Kamau

gichuhi@a4architect.com