NEWARK, DE - Farmers who
rent land should survey fields
carefully for potential production
problems before deciding whether
to renew the rental agreement.
“Anyone renting or considering
renting farmland should carefully
evaluate every field before making
a deal to re-rent or to add more
land to their operation,” advises
University of Delaware extension
agricultural agent Derby Walker.
The first step in such an
evaluation is to identify serious
week problems such as john
songrass, giant ragweek, bur
cucumber or Canada thistle.
Canada thistle and johnsongrass
are considered noxious weeds in
Delaware and by law must be
controlled. Burcucumber and
giant ragweek may be added to
that list. But, says Walker, several
other plants-including spurred
anoda, shatter cane and triazine
resistant weeds-are also very
difficult to control.
“If a farm has a serious week
infestation which will require
special treatment to control, this
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may increase your production
costs,” the extension agent says.
“For example, if it costs you $l5O
an acre to grow soybeans in a
certain field and the rent for that
field is $6O, a weed problem that
costs you $lO extra to control could
boost your production costs from a
normal $2lO to $220 an acre. ’ ’
Two other problems to look for
when evaluating a field for
possible rental are signs of
nutritional deficiency, and
nematodes. “It’s especially easy to
spot these areas in soybean
fields,” Walker says. “Usually the
indicators are off-colored or
stunted beans. Investigate these
spots to determine their cause.
Sometimes you can tell by looking
at the plants; other times, a soil
sample and/or nematode test must
betaken.”
When a field is infested with
soybean cyst nematodes, it can
greatly alter cropping alternatives
because the grower will be limited
to resistant soybean varieties and
will need to follow a crop rotation
program in order to prevent high
yield losses. Similarly, a
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How to evaluate rental land
nutritional problem will mean
spending extra dollars to correct
the deficiency and bring the field
up to standard.
Something else to look for in
soybean fields is any symptom of a
soil-borne disease like Fusarium
or root rot. These diseases often
don’t show up until late in the
season when dead bean plants
appear. Sometimes entire areas of
a field will be almost totally wiped
out.
“If there’s root rot in a field,”
Walker says, “it’s better not to
plant soybeans there. Or try a
resistant variety. Howevelr, fields
that have been planted to beans
several years in a row may have so
many disease organisms that even
resistant varieties will fail. ’ ’
Because these problems are
common onthe Oelmarva penin
sula, the county agent says it’s
extremely important to evaluate
field-by-field the land a farmer tills
or plans to till. Just one field with a
serious problem can threaten an
entire farm operation. This should
be taken into account-especially
under current conditions of
economic stress.
“If you’re renting a piece of land
and encounter serious problems
which boost your production costs
by $lO to $2O per acre,” he says,
“ask'yourself: Can I afford to till
that field?”
If production costs will be in
creased beyond the possibility of
making a profit, that piece of
ground is a guaranteed loss.
“Today,” says Walker, “you
can’t afford to plant a crop into a
field where you can’t expect a
return over cost because of a
nematode infestation, nutritional
imbalance or serious weed
problem. If, on the other hand, you
have options which can help in
crease your chances of making a
profit, take advantage of them.”
Delaware farmers who don’t
know how to evaluate rental land
can contact the University of
Delaware’s extension farm
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Phone 717-859-2441
management specialist, Dr. Don
Tilmon. He is prepared to sit down
with individual producers and
show them how to do this, adding in
the costs imposed by serious
problems and using these costs to
determine a fair rental value.
(Programs of the Delaware
Cooperative Extension Service are
open to everyone regardless of
race, color, sex, handicap, age or
national origin.)
“It doesn’t take long to evaluate
a farm,” Walker concludes.
“Basically it’s a matter of
carefully looking over the land,
making notes as you go, jotting
down your production costs, ad
ding a rental value plus any ad
ditional expenses imposed by
special problems, and then
determining what you feel is a
legitimate yield potential for that
farm. If you know the market
value of the crop, it isn’t difficult to
figure out whether you can ac
tually afford to rent that piece of
ground under that particular
cropping system.”
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