Many land owners have written contracts that expire in December and are working on new contracts. There are several types of rental agreements including cropland cash rent, flexible cash lease, share crop lease and pasture leases.

One of the first items is figuring what the new rental rate will be and for how long.  If the written lease is a cash lease, determine a fair rent for the term of the lease. If a written lease is a share lease, review the terms of the lease and make sure the shares are equitable and agreeable to both parties.

The current economics of land are favoring the seller. While landlords secretly hope to receive the highest possible rate, and tenants secretly hope to pay the lowest possible rate, both parties are need to be willing to negotiate a rate that is fair to both.

There are also several sources of information on cash rental rates from 2011 including the SDSU Economics Departments “SD Agricultural Land Market Trends” and the USDA NASS publication “SD 2011 County Level Cash Rents.”

If you are working on a lease for 2012 and wanting more information, SDSU Extension publication South Dakota Agricultural Rental Agreements: Farm Leasing Agreements talks about all of the types of farm leasing arrangements,.