Leased farm land (Mars Hill: sales, real estate, leasing)

[moughie]

I have noticed in several real estate postings for farms situations where the farmland is leased out to other farmers for income.

How common is this practice? Is it found more up in the County? Is there a big demand for tillable farm land?

Is the same procedure applied to wind turbines? Are they placed on leased land or land purchased by the turbine owners?

A friend of mine, originally from Mars Hill, recently talked me about the turbines in his town. I understand that some of the profit ( about 500K , if I remember correctly) from the energy sales generated by the turbines in Mars Hill goes to the town. Nice the community benefits- though I wonder if their cut will increase or at least be able to be renegotiated as eenergy costs rise.
Anyone have any info?

[Bydand]

leasing farmland up here in the County is very common. I know somebody with a couple of farms (one 250 acres, the other 500 acres) that leases out the land to a couple of local farmers every year. There are tons of owners who lease their land to other farmers.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

True. Land leases for $30 to $50 an acre for a year. Potatoes, oats and other crops are grown. There is a big demand for tillable. Land. The Atkins diet depressed the potato market for a few years, but it is coming back.

I estimate that wind turbines are about half and half on leased and owned land. Profit is a nebulous thing depending entirely on who is doing the accounting. A company can be generating a substantial cash flow from a single wind power site and spend it all building more sites. They show no profit from the first site. If a landowner is foolish enough to enter into a profit sharing agreement with this bunch he won't get anything out of it.

The best arrangement forf the landowner would be to have a flat rate lease for the site and a percentage of the power generated.

[AliceT]

There has always been a need for gardening space. Thanks to the food scares and recalls of last year, more and more people want to turn to the land to grow their own vegetables. While they don't have the space themselves for a sustainable garden, there are plenty of people who have way more land than they can use. I think I am fairly accurate that this practice has been going on for decades and it seems to be growing rather than diminishing. It was done in Ohio, in FL, is occurring in WV and certainly occurs in Maine.

It's not just about gardening, it's also about grass control. There was a man in FL who kept sheep and would graze his sheep on other people's land to get the grass down to a manageable level. Goats have been used similarly for getting rid of brush in woodlots. Many people in the country offer their property to livestock owners to keep from having to mow. One such arrangement is taking place in NH as I type this.

But the garden idea is big. People stuffed into cities want to stretch their legs and grow their own vegetables but don;t have the space for it. Country folks usually have lots of space and will share - sometimes for a fee. That fee is certainly preferable to buying a place with acreage.

[Coaster]

The Maine Farmland Trust -- ww.mainefarmlandtrust.org -- has a program called FarmLink that connects people who have agricultural land for lease or sale with farmers who need land. It operates statewide.

[mainebrokerman]

you would think in this day and age, that there is farmland that will lease out a parcel of land for individuals, not farms to grow some veggies.
for example, say in one county there is unused farmland, the soil is good, and the land owner, starts selling off parcels, for folks to grow corn/green beans, tomatos, not large parcels, but garden parcels.
actually i started off this reply, with the pitfalls, of how and why, this looks easy on paper, but the devil are in the details,(crop rotation, watering of gardens, accessability, policing the gardens, etc,,,,
but the more i think of the benefits, i like the idea, (maybe this is already going on,,just havent heard about it)
i think it would be fun and educational for most of us to have a garden parcel to tend to,(that dont have the land already),the kids would learn alot, and take pride and awareness of what they eat,
also, because its not on your own land, it would be an activity/educational event, not so much a chore (depending of course, how big or whats in your garden parcel)

since i read about a lobsterman who leased his traps to an out of state buyer, i believe anything is possible,,

[Submariner]

When I was a child my family share-cropped land, though it was not here in Maine.

A week ago I bought some hay from a farmer in enfield, who told me that he leases land for hay cutting.

[7th generation]

All of our leased land in western Maine is in potatoes. A farmer from the county bought the large farm here and ships to Frito Lay. The payment to the landowner covers the property taxes. Most of the land is along the river and unbuildable, so the farming retains the vista of our wonderful Androscoggin River.

[moughie]

Thanks so much to all of you who responded with your facts, thoughts and observations. I certainly do appreciate it!

[Northern Maine Land Man]

One of my sons works and lives in Massachusetts. He is a shareholder in a community garden and grows some of his own vegetables. The "farmers" are a gregarious bunch and their little system works well. Up here when I was too busy to garden one neighbor had a vegetable garden on my land and he kept us in vegetables. Another neighbor pastures his beef cattle on my land. That works well too.