Collected Publications for cash rents • farmdoc daily

Weekly Farm Economics

Setting 2019 Cash Rents with Price Uncertainty due to Trade Disputes

August 2, 2018
Gary Schnitkey and Carl Zulauf

Landowners and farmers will soon begin thinking about setting 2019 cash rent levels with the current trade uncertainty as a backdrop to those rental negotiations. The possibility of trade disruptions…

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Illinois Farmland Values in Context

March 30, 2018
Bruce Sherrick and Gary Schnitkey

Each year, the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers collects representative sales data from all across the state of Illinois, divided into 10 regions based on prominent…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Cash Rents on Professionally Managed Farmland in 2018 and 2019

March 27, 2018
Gary Schnitkey and Bruce Sherrick

The Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers recently released their estimates of 2018 cash rents as well as their expectations for 2019 cash rents. Cash rent levels…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Determining the Average Cash Rent Based on Productivity Index

November 7, 2017
Gary Schnitkey

Individuals often desire to arrive at an average cash rent given a farm's inherent productivity. Herein, a method is presented for determining a 2017 benchmark rent based on that parcel's…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Data and Outlook for Making 2018 Cash Rental Decisions

October 3, 2017
Gary Schnitkey

Much of the cash rent data for making 2018 cash rental decisions is now available. Data include 1) 2017 county and state cash rents as reported by the National Agricultural…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Increasing Property Taxes Impact Land Owner Returns and Equilibrium Land Values

August 29, 2017
Gary Schnitkey

Since 2008, per acre property taxes in Illinois have increased substantially. These increases lower returns to farmland owners and magnify the losses associated with lowering cash rents. If per acre…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Negative Cash Rent Farmland Returns Since 2014 Reduced Farmer Net Incomes

August 22, 2017
Gary Schnitkey

In recent years, many farmers have had positive incomes. However, cash rented farmland may not have been contributing to those positive net incomes. At average cash rent levels, cash rented…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Illinois Farmland Rents: 2017 State Values and 2018 Outlook

August 8, 2017
Gary Schnitkey

The National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, released 2017 cash rents and land values for major agricultural producing states. For Illinois, the 2017…

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Relationship between Cash Rent and Net Return to Land

April 14, 2017
Nathan Carson and Michael Langemeier

Net crop returns have dropped significantly since 2013. Budgeted earnings per acre for a corn/soybean rotation in Indiana were $120 in 2013. Since then budgeted losses per acre have ranged…

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Fixed Cash Rental Rates Diverge from Farm Earning Since 2013

February 10, 2017
Dale Lattz

In this article, cash rents on professionally managed farmland are compared to landlord returns derived from share rent leases. On high-productivity farmland in central Illinois, professionally-managed cash rents and share…

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Landowner’s Adjusted Net-Share Rent as a Percent of Crop Returns, a Historic Review

January 31, 2017
Dale Lattz

Over time, more farmland leases in Illinois have been shifting from traditional crop share leases to cash leases. In addition, there has been some increase in flexible or variable rent…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Cash Rent as a Percent of Farmland Price

November 8, 2016
Gary Schnitkey

Cash rent as a percent of farmland price sometimes is used as a benchmark for determining the appropriateness of a cash rent level. Over time, cash rents as percentages of…

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Comparing Input Price Changes during Multiple Year Declines: Rent as an Outlier in the Current Decline

September 29, 2016
Carl Zulauf and Gary Schnitkey

Crop input prices are a topic of considerable discussion. Numerous farmdoc daily articles have addressed the topic; most recently September 20, 2016 (Schnitkey). This article provides another perspective by comparing…

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Weekly Farm Economics

2016 County Cash Rents

September 13, 2016
Gary Schnitkey

The National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS) - an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture - released average county cash rents for 2016. Illinois' average rents are reported in this…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Continued Downward Pressure on 2017 Cash Rent

August 16, 2016
Gary Schnitkey

Recent USDA reports confirmed large corn and soybean crops for 2016. Large 2016 production leads to low projected corn and soybean prices for 2017. Given low prices, projected 2017 returns…

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Weekly Farm Economics

2016 Cash Rents and Land Values for Illinois

August 9, 2016
Gary Schnitkey

On August 5th, the National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS) released estimates of statewide cash rents and farmland values for 2016. For Illinois, the 2016 cash rent was $221 per acre,…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Downward Pressures on 2016 and 2017 Cash Rents

March 22, 2016
Gary Schnitkey

Cash rents on professionally-managed farmland decreased in 2016. In 2017, pressures to lower cash rents will intensify if commodity prices do not increase. In this article, a table is presented…

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Understanding Farmland REITs

October 28, 2015
Paul Peterson and Todd Kuethe

The pronounced growth in farm real estate values over the last decade has significantly increased the interest in farm real estate as an investment and led to the development of…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Taking Losses on Cash Rent Farmland to Avoid Losing Farmland: A Risky Strategy

October 13, 2015
Gary Schnitkey

Many farmers are very reluctant to give up rented farmland because of high cash rents. Doing so foregoes future returns it economic conditions improves, as farmers giving up farmland have…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Revision to 2016 Crop Budgets: Lower Projected Returns

September 29, 2015
Gary Schnitkey

Crop budgets for 2016 have been revised. Primarily because of lower corn and soybean prices, the revised budgets have lower operator and land returns than those released in June 2015…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Decreasing 2016 Cash Rents on Professionally Managed Farmland and Lags in Cash Rent Changes

September 22, 2015
Gary Schnitkey

Cash rents on professionally-managed farmland likely will decrease for the 2016 cropping year. Rents on non-professionally managed farmland likely will decrease as well. However, projected rent decreases are not large…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Parameters for a 2016 Cash Rent with Bonus

September 9, 2015
Gary Schnitkey

Cash rents need to be lowered to avoid farmer losses in 2016. For obvious reasons, landowners are reluctant to lower cash rents, particularly given uncertainty about 2016 revenue. Switching from…

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Weekly Farm Economics

2016 ARC-CO Payment Estimates for 2016 Cash Rent Bids

August 18, 2015
Gary Schnitkey

Cash rent bids for 2016 may be influenced by commodity payments associated with the 2014 Farm Bill. Agricultural Risk Coverage with county coverage (ARC-CO) payments for 2016 are estimated for…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Magnitude of Needed Decreases in 2016 Cash Rents

August 11, 2015
Gary Schnitkey

In last week's farmdoc daily article, it was suggested that $100 per acre in costs cuts are needed to have small profits given 2016 prices of $4.00 per bushel for…

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Weekly Farm Economics

Negative Returns and Downward Pressure on Cash Rents

May 19, 2015
Gary Schnitkey

Surveys conducted by the Chicago Fed and the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers indicate that 2015 cash rents have decreased between $20 and $25 per acre…

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