Crop share rent arrangements takes some extra bookkeeping and attention to details – for both landlords and tenants. The landlord needs to get even more involved in details of the farming operation than with flexible rents, says Gary Hachfeld, regional educator with the University of Minnesota Extension Service.

The landlord pays some of the operating costs based on the percentage split of the crop share arrangement. In addition, the landlord receives a percentage of the government payments, again based on the percentage split. Hachfeld says a fair crop share arrangement is one in which the landlord and tenant share the produced crop in the same percentage as they contribute production inputs (such as land, machinery, seed and fertilizer).

You can find a chart that Hachfeld has prepared listing the most typical crop share rental arrangements for South Central Minnesota. It’s in the recent “Land Rental Survey” publication, available at http://www.extension.umn.edu/county/nicollet, the Nicollet County Extension site.

The chart shows the portion of crop received by landlord and tenant (either 1/3-2/3, 40-60, or 50-50, and the portion of operating costs paid by each. Normally, the tenant hauls the landlord share once with the area(field to building site or field to town), each party provides their own storage and the tenant provides all labor to grow the crop. “A crop share rental agreement should be put into writing, signed by both landlord and tenant, and notarized,” Hachfeld says. For more information, contact your local Extension office or Hachfeld at (507) 934-0360, e-mail hachf002@umn.edu.