risk sufficiently to warrant making the heavy investments required to grow 

 alfalfa and other heavy yielding crops rather than go along with very light 

 yields. 



Cultivated Crops. There was little renting for cultivated crops. One 

 farmer rented two acres for corn silage, one used a part of 20 acres for 

 vegetables (the rest was in hay), and a third farmer rented four pieces 

 totaling 48 acres for grain. 



Of this total of six pieces rented for annual crops, cash rent of $2 and 

 $7.50 per acre was paid for two pieces. The rent was actually quoted for the 

 place rather than per acre, however. The renter paid the taxes on a third 

 piece, and on a fourth place the renter provided services in the form of 

 tractor work for the owner. In the two remaining cases there was no indi- 

 cation of rent other than improvements needed for crop production, that is, 

 seed and fertilizer. 



For five of the six places the renters indicated that they furnished fer- 

 tilizer. In one case, the owner, a poultryman, supplied poultry manure. 



In no case was there a written lease. In two cases there were oral agree- 

 ments for three years of use. In three other cases the same farmer had 

 used land three, four, and seven years on a year-to-year basis. 



Rented Pastures. Twenty farmers rented a total of 27 places for pasture. 

 The amount of rent paid was obtained for 16 of these places. Of these, two 

 rentals were in the form of services which were not given a value, two more 

 involved no rent beyond fence repairs which were common to nearly all 

 cases of pasture renting, and the remaining 12 involved cash ranging from 

 $1 to $5 per head pastured. All pasture rental is quoted on a pasture season 

 basis. The average per head pastured was $2.77 for the 12 cases in which 

 cash was paid, or $2.38 for the 14 cases ( 12 cash plus 2 with no rent 

 other than fence repairs). The middle and slightly most frequent figures 

 were $2 to $2.50 per head. Pasture rent was most often in the form of a 

 lump sum for a specific pasture, but it was sometimes quoted on a per head 

 basis and seldom on a per acre basis. Apparently farmers attempted to esti- 

 mate a pasture's carrying capacity and this varied greatly per acre. In point- 

 ing out $2 to $2.50 per head as the middle and most frequent rentals there 

 is no intent to say this should be the figure paid. 



In almost every case where information was obtained relative to im- 

 provements, the renter look care of fence repairs and sometimes provided 

 the fence. In a few cases the renter also seeded and fertilized. There was 

 no indication that the owner maintained the fence or furnished seed and 

 fertilizer in any instance. 



In 20 cases for which the lease arrangement was given, only two were 

 written — these for five years each. The other 18 were oral — only three 

 for more than one vear ahead. However, most of them had been rented on 

 a one-year basis for several consecutive years, three of them up to fifteen 

 years. 



Complete Farms. There were only two instances of farmers renting 

 farm units as their base of operations and as their only or their main farm 

 resources. 



Two cases are hardly enough from which to make general statements 

 regarding rental terms for farm units, and the terms on these two farms 

 differed considerably. On one farm a monthly lump sum cash rental was 



57 



