That's why the stress level for 2019 is very high. Maybe highest it's been since 1980's. You can't count on 200bpa corn dryland year in year out either.

I agree. I keep thinking I want to get into it. Already own the equipment and the land, and I still can’t get it to pencil out. Damn if I’d invest all the money, do all the work, take all the risk and then give the landowners 80% of the profits. Just looks too fun not to try it though. And if I can make as much money as you & 257 think farmers are making I’ll be rich

Hell I know exactly what they're making. No guess to it. It ain't pretty right now.

$3 corn and $8 beans doesn’t leave much meat on the bone.

That’s why I say I can’t see how they are paying $120/ac rent. Don’t add up

Thank goodness for 80cent cotton right now

Many are paying $150-$200 cash rent in the TN valley. It's not healthy. Many growers are trying to renegotiate rents with lower cash up front but have performance bonus kickbacks. If I was a landowner I'd take lower cash rent to have a farmer that is financially stable and takes care of my ground. Most of the time the "farmers" out running around running up rent are the ones that will skimp on fertilizer or not maintain ph or roads. They are due to watch.

I cashed the check. Like I said our local boys made it on yield with all the rain this summer. I guess they hit a good lick on their cotton, too.

Must have some good ground

A major problem with rent value in our area is the land is broken into small fields. Around here a 40-50 ac ag field is considered large. Most farmers around here are planting 20-40 fields spread across 40 miles. A nice square large field would bring a premium

I’m not sure why no one has mentioned this to you yet, but your first move should be to PM Whild_Bill to ask for advice. He has all sorts of ideas supported by data on setting up property for maximum deer potential. He could tell you what to do, at least he knows what works for him.

257 how much, on average, do farmers own vs lease ground that they farm? Also what is an “average” size ag field in the territory you cover? Finally, how much of that ground is tiled and/or irrigated?

1. On avg 85% of ground farmed is rented
2. Field size depends on grower. On avg 50-60 acres field size
3. Very little is tiled for drainage at all and less than 10% irrigated all being due to rented ground.

As with everything there are outliers but I tried to show avg numbers like you asked. You gotta remember a farmer may have a 150-200 acre field up here but then he'll have a pile of 8-20 acre fields to kill the avg

In south Bama I have seen a lot of cotton that is still unpicked in the fields. I guess the twice a week rain is the main problem. With late picked cotton how much in loss of yield will there be or is it the loss of value in grade?

Equipment on cotton is higher than I thought. I was talking to a farmer the other day that had a big old new John Deer cotton picker, the one that wraps the round bales, and he said it was over $900,000 if I understood him right.

Cotton grade and yield takes a beating on falls like this. Y'all in S bama taking it way worse thank goodness we got done up here a few weeks ago. And yes a roller picker is high. Used ones hard to come by too. Brand new with no multi discounts will be mid $800k

Lots of beans still in fields around here. Need a combine mounted on pontoons to get them harvested

I would love to be able to do some high ground row crops. This reclaimed marsh we have down here is not suited for row crops. Hell ain't nothing down here suitable for row crops.

My neighbor is still picking for another local farmer off 280 going towards Columbus.

A friend of mine planted about 325 acres of peanuts in NW Fl and they are still in the ground, way too wet to even try and dig them. He is hoping with the insurance he will break even.