I appreciate the thoughts. This might be a good thread to outline the process I go through, and get feedback along the way. Maybe others will find it helpful on their farms.
So, I'm looking at understanding, and amending soil where needed, and maintaining the health of the soil ongoing as goal #1. Goal #2 is to try and determine a fair rental rate for the current soil, and increasing rent where I can get the soil in better condition. I want the tenant to partner with me in meeting my goals by sharing yields, possibly sharing in soil sample costs, and fertilizing as expected. I expect liming costs will be out of my pocket.
I may have mislabeled the help I want as a farm manager. I want an agronomist to be more of an advisor on the above. I don't plan to farm myself, or custom farm, but I need someone knowledgeable to ensure that I and the tenant are doing what we need to improve soils, and yields. I expect to pay as I go with the advisor, and expect it to be a minimum of 3 year engagement until I have enough knowledge to manage it myself.
Case in point. Farm 1, 82a tillable, tiled and terraced, decent slopes, owned it for 3 years. Just learned tonight it was last limed 10 years ago. Same tenant for 10 years. No soil test available since I owned it. I did get fertilizer receipts for the last 2 years on it. Not exactly sure how to read those. Beans yielded 48bu last year. Is in corn this year. Was in corn in 2018 and I think it yielded 130bu, but wasn't a great year for anyone for corn in the area. I planted 11a of winter rye as a cover crop last year on it. Plan to do 11a of wheat this year on it on the higher sloped areas. This will be my biggest focal point this year as the farm should be a good producer if taken care of.
Farm 2: 41a tillable. Bottom ground 0-2% slopes, tiled. Produced 58bu beans last year. I have a soil test from 2019, 3.3 organic matter, 52P, 153 K, pH 7.3, Sulfur 6, Zinc 2.6. I just received this today. This farm appears to be in decent shape. Most the levels noted in the soil test are medium, or Very High, except for Sulfur, which is very low.
Farm 3: Uggggg 110a tillable. Soil test 2014. Organic 5.1, P was 16, K was 481, 6.5 pH. Current tenant doesn't believe in soil tests, doesn't do them.....already know what I need to do there... 30bu beans in 2018, corn was 127bu last year (he said he just threw a bunch of his leftover corn bags in the planter and planted it on June 4th), and beans this year....... Farm is half 5-9 slopes, thin top soil, thinking this farm might be best in crp. The agronomist I talked to last weekend knows the farm and said it's thin, crp might be best, but I told him I wanted to start with new soil tests and decided from there. I may not have enough time on this earth to bring this one back....we'll see. From the 2014 soil test it doesn't look that bad, but...I need a new soil test.
That's where I'm at....
The farms are in NW Mo. So CSR2 ratings don't apply. I think they use NCCPI for Mo, but I don't know how to find that yet....