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After a somewhat late start, crops are starting to thrive. While the temperatures have been hot, most farmers having been getting some rain. Generally, rain (in moderation) makes grain! Overall crops are looking good but may be about 1-2 weeks behind in maturity. The first part of August may turn slightly cooler which helps crops grow and improve yields. To get the highest yields, crops require certain nutrients. Most plant nutrient nutrients are processed by soil microbes. Soil microbes thrive on fluctuating wet and dry periods. Right after a nice rain, you may notice crops have a more intense green color. That’s soil microbes supplying nutrients to your crops. In late July and August, these rains may be million-dollar events for the farmer. As far as temperature, crops grow best when day-time temps stay below 85-87°F with night-time temps around 70°F. Many farmers are now spraying their crops with fungicides to maintain or enhance yields. Some are adding micronutrients. Micronutrie...

  Last week, cash rental agreements were discussed and now crop share rental agreements.  For crop share rental agreements, both landowner and tenant share crop expenses and also the crop.  This involves much more involvement of landowners in the farming operation.  The landowner has the land while the tenant supplies the labor and the equipment for farming the crop.  Since the landowner has more risk, usually the return is expected to be higher, but they also have to have more cash  outlay.  For newer farmers or for cash strapped tenant farmers, this can be helpful, lowering the tenant cash outlay and risk, but the tenant should expect lower total returns.   Share crop agreements are much more contentious and require more time to manage.  It requires more trust and transparency into more farming decisions.  Since market conditions vary from region to region and from year to year, they often have to be renegotiated on a yearly basis...

  While the current 2025 agricultural crop season is still in full swing; farmers and landowners are thinking about renewing or making new rental agreements. In Ohio, about 39% of farmland is leased or rented. About 28% of all Ohio farmers rent exclusively and own no farmland themselves. About 13 Midwestern universities have developed a program called AgLease 101 offering descriptions and advantages and disadvantage to landowners and renters (tenants) of various rental arrangements. The most common rental agreements are cash rent. For the Landowner, the benefits include they do not need to provide much input to the farming operation. The landowner gets a cash payment that does not trigger landowner self-employment tax and does not reduce social security benefits at retirement. With less input, generally there is less disagreements between parties. The landowner does not need to worry about pricing the crop or yields or how to divide and market crops. The renter or tenant takes car...

  With the Fourth of July holiday, it is nice to meet family and friends and reflect on life and the blessings we have in this country.  It is also nice to hear and learn how some successful family farms that are thriving.  Here is a local story revised from Farm Journal and Ag Web.   Les Seiler and his family farm in northwest Ohio in Fulton county near the Michigan border.  The Seiler’s plant cover crops on every acre of land that is planted  with the goal of keeping a living root in the ground year-round.  They do that by mimicking Mother Nature, using no-till and cover crops to build soil health. The Seiler’s include Les and Jerry and their two sons farming near Fayette, Ohio.  Seiler’s started out strip tilling in the fall of 2010.  Unfortunately, the wind blew all winter and moved the black soil on some new land they had purchased off the mounds.  So that was the last strip tilling the family did.  They started no-tilling...