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Farm Management Articles

Research-based information and tools to help with your farm business management decisions

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Custom Rates for 2024 Wisconsin Farm Operations

Custom Rates for 2024 Wisconsin Farm Operations

This report provides estimates of typical custom rates for common farming operations in Wisconsin. These rates are based on the 2024 Wisconsin Custom Rate Survey of Wisconsin farmers, farm managers and custom operators.

Wisconsin Agricultural Land Prices 2024

Wisconsin Agricultural Land Prices 2024

This report provides a statewide overview of agricultural land values across Wisconsin based on a statistical analysis of actual sales and now includes the weighted average price of agricultural land sold in Wisconsin.

Finding a Wisconsin Farm Lawyer

Finding a Wisconsin Farm Lawyer

If you are unsure about hiring a lawyer for your Wisconsin farm, you’re not alone. Across the United States, farmers express uncertainty about working with attorneys. This article offers tips to find, interview, and select the right attorney for your farm’s legal needs.

Terminating a farmland lease or tenancy

Terminating a farmland lease or tenancy

It is important to consider how and when a farmland lease may end.  State law provides default rules for termination in the event that a landlord and tenant fail to discuss and document this topic.

Negotiating the Farmland Lease

Negotiating the Farmland Lease

Like any contract, a lease is a package deal. Landlords and tenants should carefully consider all of the terms offered by the other party before making a decision. 

Is my Wisconsin farm lease enforceable?

Is my Wisconsin farm lease enforceable?

Under Wisconsin law, a “lease” means an agreement, whether oral or written, for transfer of possession of real property, or both real and personal property, for a definite period of time. These leases are also a type of contract, so principles of contract law apply too.

Wisconsin Farming: Insights from the 2022 Census of Agriculture

Wisconsin Farming: Insights from the 2022 Census of Agriculture

Every five years the USDA undertakes a detailed inventory of farming operations across the country. The most recent 2022 Census of Agriculture provides a snapshot of the nation’s farming economy, including demographics, production practices, land use, and economic trends.

Wisconsin Agricultural Land Prices 2023

Wisconsin Agricultural Land Prices 2023

This report provides a statewide overview of agricultural land values across Wisconsin in 2023 based on a statistical analysis of actual sales and now includes the weighted average price of agricultural land sold in Wisconsin.

Cash Farmland Lease – Narrated in Hmong

Cash Farmland Lease – Narrated in Hmong

In this instructional video, Gaonou Thao, an Extension Specialist specializing in Hmong Farmer Outreach, delivers comprehensive guidance on completing a land lease application. This video is specifically tailored to cater to the needs of farmers who may not be proficient in English.

▶ Watch: Negotiating Agriculture Leases

▶ Watch: Negotiating Agriculture Leases

What makes for a fair, robust and resilient ag or farm lease agreement? This video is part of a series that will include an example dialog between land/farm owner and renter as they negotiate the specific details of a lease agreement, highlighting important resources, tools and considerations to inform a resilient and robust agreement that serves both parties as well as discussing specific leasing topics

Resources to help landowners explore solar leases on agricultural land 

Resources to help landowners explore solar leases on agricultural land 

Development of solar arrays across Wisconsin for electric generation is expanding as interest grows in solar as a renewable energy resource. Solar developers prefer level sites free of trees, buildings, and other obstructions to the sun, and land located near roads and needed power transmission facilities, including three-phase transmission hubs and power substations.

Estimating Custom Rate for 2023 Wisconsin Farm Operations

Estimating Custom Rate for 2023 Wisconsin Farm Operations

As the 2023 crop season get started, landowners and custom service providers are negotiating custom rates, but the newest Custom Rate Guide for Wisconsin is from 2020[1]. Prices have increased a lot over the past three years.

Wisconsin Agricultural Land Prices 2022

Wisconsin Agricultural Land Prices 2022

This report provides a statewide overview of agricultural land values across Wisconsin based on a statistical analysis of actual sales and now includes the weighted average price of agricultural land sold in Wisconsin.

Demystifying the future farmer and planning ahead for a successful farmland transition

Demystifying the future farmer and planning ahead for a successful farmland transition

Productive farmland is an increasingly rare and valuable resource. Thinking ahead and having a plan in place for the legacy of the land is one of the most important decisions to make as a landowner. This article aims to “demystify” the new generation of farmers so that current landowners have a better understanding of who they are and ways we can make land more accessible to them for the benefit of everyone. 

Agricultural conservation easements 101: Permanently protect your farmland and legacy

Agricultural conservation easements 101: Permanently protect your farmland and legacy

Protecting Farmland for the Future. Farmers invest a lot of time, money, and energy into their land and, when it comes time for retirement, they often worry that the land may someday be covered in asphalt. An agricultural conservation easement (ACE) can provide a retiring farmer with the assurance that the land will forever be available for agricultural use. An ACE is a permanent deed restriction that allows future farmers to continue farming the land, but typically prevents subdivision and non-farm agricultural development. An ACE may not be right for everyone, but it can be a helpful tool to consider when planning for the future of your farmland. 

Buy-Protect-Sell: Bridging gaps to incoming farmers

Buy-Protect-Sell: Bridging gaps to incoming farmers

Buy-Protect-Sell (BPS) is a land transition model that can help farmers without heirs transfer property to a new generation of producers. In this model, a farmer sells their land to a land trust, who then protects the property with an agricultural conservation easement. In this article, you will learn what Buy-Protect-Sell is through the story of a retiring landowner and a land-seeking family, how it may benefit your farmland legacy, and if your farm could be the right fit. 

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