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Improving Land Leasing Skills for Kansas Landlords and Producers

Kevin Dhuyvetter

Summary

Recent price volatility, particularly in the grain markets, has led to difficulties for landlords and tenants to successfully determine and negotiate equitable rental arrangements. In response to this, a series of day-long workshops were developed and delivered throughout Kansas to help landlords and tenants better understand and manage the risks associated with alternative rental arrangements.
Workshops were comprised of four parts. First was a traditional lecture format discussing the different rental arrangements, including cash rent, cropshare, and the recently popular flex-rent, where rental rates “flex” depending on changes in prices and/or yields. To incorporate participant feedback and to enhance the lecture approach, audience response technology was used. Second was a discussion of leasing ethics and reasons lease arrangements sometimes breakdown. The third portion of the workshops was hands-on computer training using Excel spreadsheets. Finally, participants were introduced to examples of alternative leasing scenarios and a decision-making tool, KSU-Lease, was demonstrated. Participants were given the opportunity to sharpen their skills via hands-on computer application using KSU-Lease.
At the conclusion of the workshops, participants completed an evaluation form ranking the different aspects of the workshops and providing feedback on what they learned and what was most helpful. Evaluations were generally very positive, but indicated the need for additional similar meetings in the future. Email addresses were obtained for participants to allow a post-workshop follow-up survey to determine changes in participants’ use of farm leases, as well as provide the opportunity for them to participate in a follow-up webinar on this topic.

Details

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