Managing farmland leases:
A new look at protecting relationships, responsibilities and resources
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While there are many positive farmland owner and tenant relationships, there are some that can be taxing. If the landowner is an absentee landlord, that can be exacerbated. And as farmland values continue to rise, farmers, at times, find themselves in a competitive situation in securing farmland, occasionally putting landlords and tenants on opposite sides of the fence. Do you fall into any of these categories? You're not alone. Absentee landowners are more likely than operators to have inherited their farmland, according to the most recent survey conducted by the U.S. Economic Research Service. Nearly 45% of absentee landowners have no prior experience with farming, although there may be some relationship with the land. With the privilege of farmland ownership comes the responsibility of caretaker of the land and its resources. As a result, there is more to the relationship than a binding legal arrangement. While some prefer a handshake to a legal document, a lease can go beyond legalese to build trust and positive communication and enhance the landlord/tenant relationship. Join Nationwide and these experts to learn how to take your lease relationship from a simple transaction to an emotional partnership to benefit each other, the land and the future of the farm.
PANELISTS:
Erin Cumings
Senior Consultant Business Program Management
Nationwide Insurance
Erin Cumings is a senior consultant with the Sponsor Relations team at Nationwide Insurance. In this role, Erin is responsible for developing business opportunities through cooperative relationships. Erin is an Iowa State University graduate where she earned a bachelor of science in agricultural business. She holds designations in Associate in Personal Insurance (API) and Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and is a certified Agribusiness and Farm Insurance Specialist (AFIS). A passionate ag supporter in her community and state, Erin serves as a trustee for the Iowa 4-H foundation board, is a past president of the Iowa FFA Alumni & Supporters organization and a founding member of Nationwide’s Women in Ag committee. Erin and her husband live on their fourth generation family farm where they raise cattle, corn, hay and soybeans. A tenant herself, Erin has experience with absentee landowners and lease agreements.
Peggy Kirk Hall
Associate Professor of Agricultural and Resource Law
The Ohio State University
Peggy Kirk Hall is an associate professor in agricultural and resource law at The Ohio State University (OSU), where she directs OSU Extension’s Agricultural and Resource Law Program, teaches Agribusiness Law in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at OSU and is a research partner with the National Agricultural Law Center. Peggy is a past president and board member of the American Agricultural Law Association; past chair of the Ohio State Bar Association Agricultural Law Committee; and served as an advisory board member for the National Agricultural Law Center. She is currently working with AgLease101 publications and regularly teaches Ohio farmland leasing workshops and updates. After receiving her bachelor's degree and master's degree in natural resource policy from The Ohio State University, Peggy earned her law degree from the University of Wyoming College of Law, where she served on the Land & Water Law Review.
Max Wenck
Absentee Landowner and Tenant
MorganMyers
Max Wenck lives and breathes agriculture. As an absentee landowner and tenant himself, Max can provide perspective from both sides of the fence because of his status as a leaser and lessee. As an agricultural businessman and partner at MorganMyers, he has an exceptional knowledge of production agriculture, agricultural policy and farm cooperatives, including sitting on cooperative boards himself. Whether he is working on his own cash grain and show cattle operation in Wisconsin, his family cow-calf ranch in South Dakota or guiding industry-wide efforts to increase farm profitability, Max works tirelessly to advance the industry he loves with innovative and creative thinking.
MODERATOR:
Andrew McCrea
Host
The American Countryside
Andrew McCrea is a farmer and rancher, an award-winning radio and tv broadcaster and a nationally recognized speaker. He is the host of a nationally broadcast radio and television feature, “The American Countryside,” a program that has won five NAFB Oscars for rural and agricultural broadcasting. His broadcasts are heard daily on over 100 radio stations and Sirius XM satellite radio. In addition, his weekend show, "Farming the Countryside" is heard on many stations and XM channel 147 as well.
Andrew continues to own and manage the farm and ranch where he was born and raised. McCrea Farms has crop and pastureland in northwest Missouri raising corn, soybeans and beef cattle. He has also served agriculture as a past chairman of the Missouri Beef Industry Council and a representative to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
Andrew continues to own and manage the farm and ranch where he was born and raised. McCrea Farms has crop and pastureland in northwest Missouri raising corn, soybeans and beef cattle. He has also served agriculture as a past chairman of the Missouri Beef Industry Council and a representative to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
