Tax incentives for investements agriculture vs multi family

[Michael Botha]

We are interested in diversifying our investments and investing in the live animal production agricultural sector in MT and or surrounding states. We are presently considering cow/calf live stock production with the goal to acquire ranch land suitable for a 1,000 animal unit operation. Initially we will lease ranch land and contract with a cutom grazer to raise our herd(s). Once we have a herd and calf crop that is sufficiently productive to finance the operation we will acquire the ranch land. We are also considering starting our own retail brand or partnering with an existing brand to market and sell direct to consumers. My question is: how do the tax incentives for an agricultural operation as described above compare to investments in multi family housing? The big question is related to depreciation, since a lot of equity will be tied up in ranch land, which is non depreciable; are there other tax incentives that sweeten the deal? Any comments are welcome.