| Written July, 2003 |  |
File C2-08 |
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Lease Supplement for Obtaining Conservation Practices and Controlling Soil Loss
Kenneth Muller, former Cedar County Extension Education Director
The purpose of this lease supplement is to encourage cooperation between tenants and landlords to obtain and maintain needed conservation practices on a rented farm. Rent charges should reflect cost and risk incurred by farming practices. Conservation practices and improvements will not be made unless agreed to in advance and the tenant has the necessary machinery and management ability. A tenant is not likely to make an important contribution to soil conservation unless additional costs are shared or the tenant is assured repayment of an unexhausted value in case the lease agreement ends. Soil loss control is beneficial to the landlord and tenant.
Soil Loss
Tenant and landlord shall agree to follow specific conservation practices that will control soil loss for a field or the entire farm. Soil loss limits (tons/ acre) have been set under NCRS conservation compliance guidelines. The farm’s soil conservation plan provided through the NRCS will recommend alternative soil management practices (mulch or zero tillage, contouring, terraces, rotations, waterways, ground cover, buffer strips, etc.) to maintain soil losses within allowable limits. The plan can be modified if both the landlord and tenant agree.
Selecting and agreeing to specific conservation practices must be done with care to meet the original objective of controlling soil loss.
Cost-Share
Cost-share payments are available for conservation practices. Sharing of expenses and cost-share payments should be a part of the lease agreement. Contact FSA and NRCS offices for information before initiating practices.
Ground Cover
Ground cover is needed throughout the growing season. Trips over fields with tillage tools reduce ground cover. Ground cover at planting time should be measured. No-till or reduced chisel-disk systems will maintain adequate ground cover needed on sloping land. Contact SCD personnel for determinations of adequate ground cover based on slope, crop, tillage practices, and timing of tillage operations.
Cropping Practices
(may be required or excluded)
- Fields shall be tilled and planted on the contourwhere feasible.
- A cover crop shall be seeded on corn groundharvested for silage.
- Waterways removed by plowing, use of chemi-cals or other means shall be replaced at the tenant’s expense.
- Tenant shall clip waterways as necessary formaintenance of soil conservation practices.
- Corn and soybean fields shall have sufficientground cover at planting time to control erosion within soil loss limits set under the conservation plan.
- No fall tillage should occur on soybean ground.
- Soybeans shall not be grown unless soil loss iscontrolled within soil loss limits set under the Erosion Control Law.
- No-till shall be used on designated fields.
- Soybean straw shall not be removed fromsoybean fields.
- Crop rotation shall be followed as selected bythe landlord on designated field(s).
- Strip cropping shall be maintained on fields asdesignated by the landlord.
- Erosion shall be controlled in farm pond water-sheds.
Permanent Practices
Terraces, farm ponds, windbreak, water control structures reforestation, waterways, diversion ditches, pasture improvement, buffer zones, and other practices requiring long-range investments may require special agreements between landlords and tenants for installation, maintenance, and sharing of cost and benefit. If the tenant contributes to permanent practices, a value or cost should be determined and depreciation rate and recovery of remaining value determined (see the table). Any cost share funds received by the tenant should be deducted first.
View Table Lease Supplement for Use in Obtaining Conservation Practices and Controlling Soil Loss (pdf)