I have a vacant feild adjacent to my property. I have never seen a person on it in the three years we have lived here and it has had new owners. The feild was part of property that I bought a split off of. Anyway, I contacted the owner after looking the name up at the township office and sent a letter inquiring about leasing it and giving a shot at either a short term lease with yearly crops or even long term with maybe christmas tree or even both. I figured it would not hurt. and maybe I would find out the intention if they were building soon all would be ended anyways. well it turns out in the phone message the land may not be built on and sounds like possibly a invesment that someone is sitting on. Now my question is when I call back if they are willing to lease the land what price would be fair. I don't plan on raising cash crops except maybe some sold to fellow workers and roadside stand. certainly not looking to make a profit (maybe break even but I know that could be a strecth) just looking for place to play with the tractors. what would be a fair per acre price. 30, 40, 50 bucks or more?
Greenthumb, I don't have an answer, but I don't think anyone can give you a reasonable answer without knowing a lot of details about the property. First they would need to know where this property is, prices vary considerably in different parts of the country, is the land level, tillable, treed, what kind of access is there, what kind of soil, what kind of crops would it produce, or is it just pasture, is it fenced, how much are the taxes on it, what you do to the property if you leased it, etc., etc.
Talk with your local tractor or feed dealer. Those boys seem to know about every deal within 5 miles in the past decade because they know and have been doing business with everyone around forever. I think you might be surprised at what a wealth of information they can be.
The bottom line is still going to be how much the owner will take for it if he's even interested in leasing it. How cheap you can lease acreage half a mile down the road really isn't the issue. You don't want that land. You want his. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Are tax records public in your county? They are in mine. If so, I would go look up what he is paying in property taxes. That is cash money the owner is paying every year to hold the property and is often a "magic number".
It may not tell you what to offer, but it is useful piece of information in the bargaining process.
Check with your local Cooperative Extension or FSA office. They typically have copies of standard lease agreements available and may be able to give you guidance as to the going rates in your area. If you sell what you are producing, you should also look into a farm insurance policy. Many companies offer an "estate" or "hobby farm" policy which may be suitable.
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