part of both owners and would-be renters to respect the partial user's future 

 rights to a piece of land even though no lease or oral commitment is involved. 

 Another difficulty in the way of renting is the lack of a well-established 

 rental market. This is probably partly a matter of renting not being highly 

 developed historically in New England, but it is also due to highly variable 

 worth of the land and to the peculiar interests of some owners. It is hoped 

 that the review of current rental terms (see Appendix), though limited, may 

 provide a somewhat clearer picture of the market. 



Chapter V. The Public and Private Interest 

 In New Hampshire's Idle Farm Land 



The Public Interest 



S THIS LAND needed in agriculture? A free market measure of "need" is 

 that agricultural products be in sufficient demand to command the use 

 (pav the price) of land and associated production costs. This study indi- 

 cates that largely residential uses have in a sense outbid agriculture for this 

 land, although the process has been as much one of default by agriculture. 

 This study also suggested that the present uses (mostly residential) do not 

 in many cases exclude agricultural use. It also indicates that some farmers 

 believe they can pay the "secondary" use price (rent) of this land and the 

 associated production costs (provided their investments are protected by 

 satisfactory leases ) . 



Is there evidence that all or lar^e amounts of this land is needed in 

 agriculture in the sense that its products will cover their production costs, 

 including an income to farmers equal to their long run alternatives? Table 

 1.6 indicates that in the 20 towns studied, idle tillable land was about 17 per- 

 cent as much as total tillable land reported by the 1945 Census. If we assumed 

 that this land (through the sale of standing hay) is now yielding one-half 

 the state average, then using it so as to bring it up to the state average 



Figure 9. Renting of compete commercial size farms is not conmon in New Hampshire, but 

 there are instances, such as the above, where it is done successfully. This arrangement may be 

 mutually beneficial between owners of adequate farms who are unable to operate them and 



able operators who lack capital. 



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