Cash rent & flexible lease calculator
Fixed or flexible? Enter the lease terms and this year’s yield and price to see the rent a flexible cash lease works out to, how it compares with a fixed cash rent, and what it leaves the tenant - per acre and for the whole farm. Handy for landowners and tenants talking before the next lease year.
This year’s rent - Base rent + bonus
Gross revenue of $860 per acre is $60.00 over the $800 trigger, so the landowner gets 30% of that ($18.00) on top of the $250 base.
$7.00 per acre less than the $275 fixed cash rent - the tenant keeps more, the landowner gets less.
- Gross revenue per acre
- $860
- Rent as a share of gross revenue
- 31.2%
- Bonus over the base rent
- +$18.00
- Tenant net with the fixed rent
- $35.00
- Revenue the tenant needs (rent + costs)
- $818
- Landowner gross return on land value
- 0%
- Farm: flexible rent
- $42,880
- Farm: fixed rent
- $44,000
- Farm: difference
- -$1,120
- Farm: tenant net
- $6,720
What if yield or price moves? Rent per acre
The flexible rent when yield (down the side) and price (across the top) move from this year’s numbers. Orange outline = your numbers. Fixed cash rent stays at $275 whatever happens.
| Yield \ Price | -20%$3.44 | -10%$3.87 | Now$4.30 | +10%$4.73 | +20%$5.16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -20%160 bu/ac | $250 | $250 | $250 | $250 | $258 |
| -10%180 bu/ac | $250 | $250 | $250 | $265 | $289 |
| Now200 bu/ac | $250 | $250 | $268 | $294 | $320 |
| +10%220 bu/ac | $250 | $265 | $294 | $322 | $351 |
| +20%240 bu/ac | $258 | $289 | $320 | $351 | $382 |
Green = more than the fixed rent (landowner better off), red = less (tenant better off).
Tenant net per acre with the flexible lease
What the tenant keeps after the flexible rent and other costs. A flexible lease shares the bad years as well as the good ones.
| Yield \ Price | -20%$3.44 | -10%$3.87 | Now$4.30 | +10%$4.73 | +20%$5.16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -20%160 bu/ac | -$250 | -$181 | -$112 | -$43.20 | $17.92 |
| -10%180 bu/ac | -$181 | -$103 | -$26.00 | $35.98 | $90.16 |
| Now200 bu/ac | -$112 | -$26.00 | $42.00 | $102 | $162 |
| +10%220 bu/ac | -$43.20 | $35.98 | $102 | $168 | $235 |
| +20%240 bu/ac | $17.92 | $90.16 | $162 | $235 | $307 |
How we work it out
- Base rent + bonus: base + share % × (yield × price + other income − trigger), when the revenue is over the trigger.
- Share of gross revenue: rent % × (yield × price + other income), never below the base rent.
- Yield and price index: base rent × (actual yield ÷ base yield) × (actual price ÷ base price), raised to the floor if there is one.
- Cap and tenant net: the top limit applies to every method. Tenant net = gross revenue − rent − other costs; farm figures multiply by the acres.
Before you sign
- Write down exactly which yield (farm, field or county) and which price (date, place, cash or futures) the lease uses, and when the bonus is paid.
- Agree what happens with crop insurance payments, a failed crop and a replant - and whether they count as revenue.
- Many states have rules on notice to end a farm lease, often by a set date in the fall. Check your state’s rules and have the lease reviewed.
Where to find local rents and sample leases
- Cash Rents by County - USDA NASS survey; county figures are in Quick Stats.
- Flexible Farm Lease Agreements and Computing a Cropland Cash Rental Rate - Iowa State University Ag Decision Maker.
- Ag Lease 101 - sample leases and guidance from land-grant universities in the North Central region.
- farmdoc - University of Illinois farm management articles, including farmland leasing.
- Your state Extension service publishes its own cash rent survey - see the America regional guide for your state.
A planning guide from your own numbers, not legal or financial advice - we don’t publish rents or prices of our own. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere. To check what the crop can afford to pay, use the crop break-even calculator; for other units use the farm unit converter.
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