In the battle over who gets to rent farmland today, no-tillers should show landlords that they will make improvements to their property.

“I like to see a farm manage a piece of land just like it’s their own,” says Randy Hertz with Hertz Farm Management in Nevada, Iowa. “I like to see them build the fertility levels of the soils, make good management decisions and set up all the dots in a row of having an efficient system that optimizes yields, protects the soil and builds up the soil for future generations.”

The farm manager, consultant and financial planner says that landlords may not rent land to the highest bidder. He says those who are concerned with the long-term sustainability of their farmland will take less cash per acre if they know a tenant will improve the property.

“We have a problem with farm operators who like to treat all of their acres the same, but they aren’t the same,” Hertz told an audience of ag reporters at a recent Ag Media Summit sponsored by Syngenta Crop Protection. “Cash renters have cut corners. For example, you can see right to the fence row the guys who are cheating on weed control.”

Hertz adds that growers who make outrageously high rental bids for farmland will likely “mine” the property in the short term and leave it in bad condition for the next renter.

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