Market for farmland: from boom to bust

Raphael and Dorothy Peterson picked up an egg ranch in southernWisconsin for chicken feed.

The previous owners, a family of seven, failed to pay theirbills on the 80-year-old homestead perched on the rocky hills nearthe upper Mississippi. One of those bills, a $63,000 tab, was run upat the Petersons' supply store. It was for chicken feed.

A few weeks ago the 223-acre farm was placed on the auctionblock and the Petersons snapped it up with a bid of $45,000. Therewas only one other bid, much lower, and it came from the foreclosingbank. "We can either resell it or run beef cattle on it," saysDorothy Peterson. "Frankly, we're not sure what we're going to dowith …