Land Rent

[Vader]

On the surface it looks like a great program. I talked to a farmer in Montana who didn't think so.

He had a neighbor who put his two sections of land into CRP. That netted him $60,000 US per year. He moved down to Texas and bought a bowling alley. Now the CRP money follows him to Texas. There is a lot of land in CRP in Montana and on that land there is zero economic activity and much of the money from the program leaves the state. Neighbors who would like to expand find it difficult to compete at $50.00 per acre.

There are some who will be glad to see a reduction in the program.

[northfarmer]

land cash rents in our area were getting to the 30 to 40 range of last couple of years, have not head of any new deals this year as all I hear about is guys letting land go as they lapse or if year to year. Few guys looking to scale up at this time, and many are "right-sized" already. Some are letting only the more marignal stuff go. I see rates getting back to the 15 to 25 range vs the 30 to 40. Tight canola rotation were what was keeping rate up, and rates will stay down till that changes or some other crop breaks from lows.