good times & grain prices

How about the recent grain markets? 

First time I got to rent my land out to crop farming. $30.00 an acre. Other wise you keeping taking hay off or give it away to some one. Lots of land sits empty here. Most people happy just to let some one use their land. Central WI.

Our local for cash ended yesterday at $6.35 corn and $14.02 beans. I'm liking it. We don't farm much but still have little better than half the corn crop in the bin.

My ground isnt great but not terrible for this part of the country, corn went 195 last year. My phone has been rining hard with offers and I tell em all the same thing. Where were you at when farming was skinny??? My tennant has paid on time, good year or bad, for going on 20 years. I think that is called win/win? Hope he makes a mint this year.

Edited by Butch(OH) - 19 Jan 2011 at 10:19am

My family is kinda in the opposite position of you Butch. The guy that rented my Great uncles old place has had it for a long time. He got by paying less than average rent cause Dad didn't want to ask for more. Several times other local farmers had asked to rent the ground and told him what they would pay, which ways above what we were getting. Now Dad and his brother are gone and a good neighbor and good trustee of the land says he will pay $50 over what we have been getting. I think it's a no brainer when the guy wanting to rent, takes good care of the ground and will pay more. 

Farming is a busineess, to be honest there are a lot of uninformed landlords, elderly, not so smart , no so savy, or too nice to raise prices, that get screwed on their rent.   As prices go up rent should and will too.  

As a recent farmer and a land owner, I think that without tying cash rent to the achieved market price (not just to the local cash prices) you have to renegotiate the cash price at least twice a year, maybe monthly. I think that crop share, which exposes me to risk of crop loss and makes me merchandise my share of the crop is most equitable with the tenant. In my case he delivers the crop to the elevator 4 miles away, but I pay half the seed, fertilizer, and herbicide and does the rest and all the work. I get half the crop.

Today those high corn prices fell off a cliff, glad I sold yesterday.

Gerald J.

Gerald - I work a very similar arrangement with my farming partner since I work full time in St. Louis and my farm is 140 miles away in Central, MO. 

For my 3 bottom fields we split fertilizer, seed & herbicide.  I'm responsible for lime & other field improvements like the drain tile we just put in 2 of the bottoms.   He is supposed to do all the field tillage (mostly all no-till plant or drill), fertilizer spreading, planting & harvesting.  We always sub out the herbicide spraying.  If I do any of the combining with my EIII for either fun or to get it out sooner then he pays me for the custom combining (I give him a rate at about half the going rate).  If I have a plow day in one of the bottoms to do some tillage that's for fun on me.  We then split the crop 50/50 and any USDA payments 50/50.  The acreage (about 45 acres) is small enough we don't bother with the extra expense of crop insurance.  I should note my farming partner also used to have a full time job himself as well outside of farming but about the last 2 years that'd be better described as he's self-employed.  It has in general worked out very well for the both of us.  It helps that we were personal friends before this and we are both very reasonable people so any issues we've had were worked out.

I also have another six acre hilltop that he can't get easily get big equipment (i.e. a JD 9500 combine) across the creek and thru the pastures to get to it.  So that field is mine 100%.  I only run a beans/wheat rotation there so I pay him to do the custom drilling for me which he does the same day as whatever bottom is getting the same crop.  I do any tillage, fertilizer spreading & combining and pay 100% of the inputs.    I plan to expand the planted part in this hill top to about 8 or 9 acres in 2012.  I also plan to add another 5 acre hilltop in 2012 that is mainly unused right now (not in CRP).   Need to do fence repair work around that field first.

We used to spilt hay ground inputs/revenue until fertilizer prices made that a net money loser for me.  So I told him at that point he could use my hay ground rent-free and keep 100% of the hay but he has to buy 100% of the fertilizer.    Mike

18 cents down on $6.50. Cliffs must be shorter in Iowa.

I ran around to see some landlords in the past few days.  I've gottne the same reply from all.  Same rent as before, they are happy to have the checks when they want them and have some favors done and things taken care of.  I usually try to give a little bonus to them when things are good.