Renting land

[cowman]

In the past I have occasionally rented land and although it was generally a good experience, I would never do it again. Just can't see it being overly profitable in my situation. I do rent out a couple of hundred acres to a cousin and it has been a very good arrangement for the last 15 years.
But I really wonder why some guys bother? I have a neighbor who rents 160 acres from this city slicker for $80/acre, cash upfront. This year he never got the hay done until September and he hasn't sold any of it and I doubt he will as it was timothy and pretty mature. Now I suspect he basically ate the $80 plus a healthy fertilizer bill?
My cousin raised a good crop of barley but the price is so dismal I told him I will take my third and try to use it. He is feeding a bunch of cattle at a custom lot with the deal he gets to deliver grain for the feed bill...but he is not a happy camper to say the least! I told him if he is sick of renting it I can always put it back to grass, but he still intends to hang in there and hope for better prices next year!

[ALLFARMER]

A farmer from up here (North Peace) went to the farm show in Red Deer and when he came back his comment was if you think guys are cryin here you should hear those guys! $80/acre rent????!!!! yikes If I end up renting some of mine out I will be hoping for $30 upfront. And this land is perfectly flat no rocks or roots and yielded over 40 canola last year. Only Canola here is $4.00 flat

[ALLFARMER]

My Cousin from was left some land by her dad (13 quarters or something) and she is only getting something like $2000/quarter the guy who has been renting it is behind on the rent. She has only seen the land twice but says the guy seeds a crop into it! Alkali on some of the land??

[cowman]

Well the rents were justified if it was in hay for the horse trade? $4 a small bale at over 100 bales/acre is a pretty decent return? The price of horse hay hasn't gone down this year despite hay everywhere!
Crop land is not that high. Usually in that $60 range on a cash basis? With the low prices for grains and oil seeds I think that is too much, but there is always a line up to rent any land available!
You must remember we get more for grain here than the Peace because we are closer to the end user and save on freight.

[Horse]

Well cowman here the rent is $30 and east where the land is better $50 but most rented land is to larger holdings or those in deep debt trying to keep alive and then there is always those of high income that want to play and doing it on tax dollars where a return on investment is not needed.

[cowman]

In this area there is a class of people who are very wealthy...the acreage crowd! They all want to have a few nags around it seems to keep the grass down. Money is no object when it comes to their horses...thus the lively hay trade! There is also an export hay factory at Innisfail, where they compress hay for Japan.
There are also a lot of old established farm families that have money. A lot of this land is freehold mineral rights and the oil and gas royalties often exceed farm income. I guess you could call them "hobby farmers" even though they might own a lot of land and farm in a big way? They seldom bother with livestock...why bust your butt when you are farming for pleasure?
Some of this land is extremely productive and we usually have a favorful climate. Never have had a crop failure, even in the drought.