Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

How best to determine cash rent acres?

deerdown

Well-Known Member
Not sure how to get this info. On my tillable ground, I see acres change, year over year, and differences between planted acres vs harvested acres even in the same year.

For example, on 1 farm these were the tillable acres reported :

2023 Planting monitor said 173.4a Harvest monitor said 171.2a
2022 Harvest monitor said 177.4a on this same farm, same farmer.....

What's the best way to determine acres for cash rent when you have these disparities?

Thx

 
I’d measure it on surety or even onyx. U probably are getting some overlap. Or sometimes guys will plant through the waterways and sometimes they don’t. Same with harvest. Little variables like that can sway the acres.
If the FSA tillable is say “175 acres” & they certify 175 acres. But they say “well it’s really 173 acres” ….. I’d probably just roll with the flow & give the difference to the farmer. If it’s over 5 acres…. I’d probably measure it out and also get the data on FSA tillable acres. As long as u have info & are fair …. Easy stuff to work out.
 
Thanks for the info. I've been really flexible with the tenant - and, he with me....but as I continue to pay for tile and terraces, which add acres, I was wanting to at least understand how many acres that is adding, as well as get paid for that investment. Spending tens of thousands with no return doesn't make the bookkeeper very happy, in this house anyway.

But, I was just trying to get some good solid numbers.
I just don't understand how to get there. Surety or OnX would be a lot of drawing and guesswork wouldn't it? I was trying to get better numbers than that.

You said - If the FSA tillable is say “175 acres” & they certify 175 acres....who does the certification? I guess I have rarely, if ever, seen the acres in production actually match the FSA tillable acres so I'm curious by this comment and how I could use it in my determination. TIA
 
Around here the FSA office drives around the fields with GPS units and gets verified acres. Then after that- you always have your acreage, it’s up to your renter then to figure out how he’s “losing” ground. Maybe he doesn’t get his equipment calibrated or who knows- but start with FSA and go from there. 6 acres is a lot- and here when rent of over $300/acre, that adds up fast
 
Around here the FSA office drives around the fields with GPS units and gets verified acres. Then after that- you always have your acreage, it’s up to your renter then to figure out how he’s “losing” ground. Maybe he doesn’t get his equipment calibrated or who knows- but start with FSA and go from there. 6 acres is a lot- and here when rent of over $300/acre, that adds up fast
This helps a bunch, thanks. I always try to be fair, and this sounds like a fair way to start a conversation....
 
The easy answer is to use whatever you want because you are the landowner. For instance I farm a 160 that I pay rent for the whole 160. Only plants and harvests about 155. You can set the total rent due and the tenant can divide it by how ever many acres he wants. You can use fsa certified acres but in my experience those acres are generally less than what is actually there.
 
I measure all the fields with aerial photos that then become attachments to the cash rent agreement.

I measure around waterways. Some people include them which I don't think is fair to farmer.
 
I measure all the fields with aerial photos that then become attachments to the cash rent agreement.

I measure around waterways. Some people include them which I don't think is fair to farmer.
That sounds like a lot of drawing, and I find it hard to follow the creeks, waterways, timber when going over a large parcel.
I admire the effort for sure! Do you use something like area calculator or Google earth to do this?
 
Top Bottom