Tag: cash rents

Farmland Leasing Resources

Ann Johanns

Farmland leasing is a popular topic of conversation year round in Iowa with much of Iowa farmland under a rental agreement. Ag Decision Maker has a multitude of information relating to leasing arrangements under the Whole Farm – Leasing section, https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/wdleasing.html .

Ag Decision Maker (AgDM) includes rental rate surveys, forms, and information on agreements and types of leases. Survey information includes farmland cash rental rate surveys from ISU Extension and Outreach and USDA, and historical county cropland cash rental rates. Forms are available for lease agreements; lease supplements for farm, conservation, and drainage improvements; and farm lease termination notice. Information on types of leases covers cash, flexible cash, crop share, pasture, building, storage, or beef cow leases. Additional information related to leasing arrangements is available on improving a farm lease contract, legal considerations, farm resumes or newsletters, and self-employment tax.

Ag Decision Maker Resources:

Resources that are commonly requested related to farmland leasing include the following publications.

ISU Farmland Cash Rental Rate Survey includes cash rental rates for the listed year by state, region, and county. Rates are represented for tillable farm ground, hay, oats, corn stalk grazing, and hunting rights.

Computing a Cropland Cash Rental Rate explains ways to compute to a farmland cash rental rate.

Flexible cash leases a topic that has brought about an increase of questions and interest over the past few years. The publication Flexible Farm Lease Agreements  lays the groundwork for these types of leases. The publication Flexible Cash Rent Lease Examples  gives additional examples of flexible cash lease agreements.

A farmland lease contract is an agreement between two or more individuals; the Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation provides insight to the legal and taxation issues surrounding farmland leases in the publication Iowa Farm Leases – Legal, Economic, and Tax Considerations.

Other Resources:

Ag Lease 101 a product of the North Central Farm Management Extension Committee which is represented by several universities across the Mid-West. On Ag Lease 101 under the documents tab, individuals can find lease publications and forms for fixed and flexible cash, crop share, pasture, and beef cow rental arrangements.

Web Soil Survey (WSS) is a resource that provides soil data and information. Individuals can use WSS to find the soil types and related information for their farm. Assistance for using Web Soil Survey to map and find Iowa Corn Suitability Ratings is also available on the Ag Decision Maker website.

These documents and the information on AgDM can get an individual started on setting a farmland cash rental rate for the following lease year. Your local ISU Extension and Outreach Farm Management Field Specialist can assist with individual questions; you can find the specialist in your area by clicking on the respective county or area on the map on the following webpage, https://www.extension.iastate.edu/ag/farm-business-management-0.

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How accurate and useful is the ISU Cash Rent Survey?

Ann Johanns

Alejandro Plastina, extension economist, explores results of a follow-up survey on the accuracy and usefulness of the ISU Cash Rental Rate Survey.

plastina_alejandro_photoCash rents, land values, and rates for custom work in Iowa are topics that usually attract lots of attention from a number of stakeholders in the agricultural sector. Even more so when the economic outlook for the sector is particularly promising or particularly discouraging. So it comes as no surprise that the Cash Rental Rates for Iowa Survey is received with different degrees of acceptance by different groups depending on the economic outlook. This year we requested feedback from the online respondents to the Cash Rent Survey about the accuracy and usefulness of the survey results.

Who responded?

The Cash Rental Rates for Iowa 2016 Survey had 1,585 responses, of which 320 responses were submitted through the online questionnaire (the rest were mailed using USPS). All online respondents were invited to participate in a short follow up survey about their perceptions of the Cash Rent Survey. One hundred and forty-five respondents completed the follow up survey. All of them reported being familiar with the survey (figure 1).

Comparing the participation of different categories of participants in this opinion poll versus the corresponding participation of the same categories in the Cash Rent Survey (figure 2), farm operators accounted for the same share (47%); but agricultural lenders, professional farm managers and Realtors had a greater share (21% vs. 14%, and 16% vs. 12%, respectively); while landowners had a smaller share (15% vs. 25%).

Figure 1. How familiar are you with the ISU Cash Rental Rates for Iowa Survey?Figure 2. How would you classify yourself?

How accurate are survey results?

Ninety-one percent of the respondents indicated that the Cash Rent Survey reflects typical cash rents by county moderately, very, or extremely accurately (figure 3). Forty-seven percent of the respondents indicated that the Cash Rent Survey reflects typical cash rents by county very or extremely accurately.

The most prevalent response among farm operators, landowners, and agricultural lenders was that the Cash Rent Survey reflects typical cash rents by county very accurately, followed closely by moderately accurately (figure 4). The most prevalent response among professional farm managers and Realtors was that the Cash Rent Survey reflects typical cash rents by county moderately accurately.

Figure 3. How accurately does the ISU Cash Rental Rates for Iowa Survey reflect typical cash rents by county?Figure 4. How accurately does the ISU Cash Rental Rates for Iowa Survey reflect typical cash rents by county, by type of respondent?

The accuracy of the Cash Rent Survey in reflecting annual changes in typical cash rents by county was perceived to be better than the accuracy in reflecting their levels. Ninety-six percent of the respondent indicated that the Cash Rent Survey reflects year-over-year changes in typical cash rents by county moderately, very, or extremely accurately (figure 5). Fifty-seven percent indicated that the Cash Rent Survey reflects year-over-year changes in typical cash rents by county very or extremely accurately.

The most prevalent response among farm operators, landowners, and agricultural lenders was that the Cash Rent Survey reflects typical cash rents by county very accurately, followed by moderately accurately (figure 6). The most prevalent response among professional farm managers and Realtors was that the Cash Rent Survey reflects typical cash rents by county moderately accurately, followed by very accurately as a close second.

Figure 5. How accurately does the ISU Cash Rental Rates for Iowa Survey reflect year-over-year changes in typical cash rents by county?Figure 6. How accurately does the ISU Cash Rental Rates for Iowa Survey reflect year-over-year changes in typical cash rents by county, by type of respondent?

How useful are survey results?

Ninety-seven percent of the respondents indicated that the Cash Rent Survey was at least moderately useful to them (figure 7). Seventy-six percent of the respondents indicated that the Cash Rent Survey was very or extremely useful to them.

The most frequent answer among farm operators and agricultural lenders was that the Cash Rent Survey was extremely useful, followed by very useful and in a distant third place moderately useful (figure 8).

The most frequent answer among landowners was that the Cash Rent Survey was very useful, followed by extremely and moderately useful.

Professional managers and Realtors indicated most frequently that the Cash Rent Survey was moderately useful, followed by very and extremely useful.

Figure 7. How useful is the ISU Cash Rental Rates for Iowa Survey to you? Figure 8. How useful is the ISU Cash Rental Rates for Iowa Survey to you, by type of respondent?

Summary  

Although this opinion poll about the usefulness and accuracy of the Cash Rental Rates for Iowa Survey was not designed to be representative of all stakeholders in Iowa, it shows that most farmers, landowners, agricultural lenders, professional farm managers and Realtors, and other agricultural professionals that participate in the survey find it useful and accurate.

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