At The Land Connection’s 2025 Organic Grain Conference, Illinois FarmLink hosted a lively session – Landowners and Organic Grain Farmers: How to Make the Relationship Work.
“Our goal for the session was simple,” said Nathan Aaberg, Illinois FarmLink Director. “We hoped to give organic grain farmers and landowners ideas on how to find each other and have better relationships.”
There were two organic grain farmers on the panel (from left to right at the table, Aaron Butler from DeKalb County and Doug Yunker from Will County), who between them have almost 40 landowner lease relationships.
In addition, we heard from a landowner, Janeen Tietjens, who along with her father and sister, lease 40 acres to Doug Yunker in Will County.
The panelists addressed topics like how to find land or a farmer, how to have that first conversation, what kind of lease arrangements are possible, and how to keep the relationships working well over time.
Here are some of the comments, anecdotes, and ideas that stood out from the session:
Invite a potential landlord to your own farm: When Janeen, her father, and her sister were exploring whether to begin a lease relationship with Doug Yunker and his father, Doug invited Janeen and her family to visit his family’s home farm. This gave them a chance to visit in a relaxed way and get a sense of how Doug and his father farmed. (Landowner implications: If you’re a landowner looking for a farmer, consider asking farmers if you can see land they’re farming and the kinds of equipment they use.)
Adjust your communications to your landowner: Aaron and Doug both shared how they adjust their communications to what seems to work for the landowner. Aaron had an experience with a landowner who wanted to have coffee with him every month to hear what was happening with the farm. Others just want their check. (Landowner implication: Let the farmer know what kind of communication you’d prefer and how often. Assuming your requests are reasonable, the farmer should be happy to know how best to communicate with you.)
The challenges of custom farming relationships: A landowner in the audience asked a big question that generated lots of conversation. She explained that, for tax reasons, she had a custom farming arrangement with a local farmer, but the farmer was becoming increasingly disgruntled with it. She asked the panelists if they had any thoughts.
Custom farming is essentially paying a farmer to do a specific farming task for you (whether that be seeding, weeding, or harvesting) while the landowner retains ownership of the crop itself and whatever income is generated by the crop.
To determine the custom farming rate, farmers and farmland owners often use the survey of custom rates that Iowa State University maintains to get a decent idea of what a reasonable payment range might be.
This is a section of the Iowa State University 2024 Custom Rate Survey table for planting, spraying, and fertilizer applications. Note that there is a considerable range of reported per/acre rates.
At this section of the University of Illinois Extension farmdoc website, you can find reports on estimates for the machinery costs for different kind of farming operations. Above is a portion of the field operations report. Using the U of I report and the Iowa State University rate survey tables together can help you work out a fair custom farming rate for a particular farming operation.
In response to the landowner’s question, Aaron Butler explained that organic grain farming depends on the right task being done at exactly the right time. But when the farmer is being paid a fixed rate for the task and won’t get any added benefit for doing the task at just the right time, it is human nature for the farmer to focus on getting the work done on the land where he will own the crop. In other words, the landowner asking for the work to be done at custom rates will be given less priority.
An organic farmer in the audience also noted that the custom farming rates are not generous to the farmer. That organic farmer recommended that the landowner offer to pay a custom rate significantly higher (20-30%) than the going rates might make the farmer happier with the arrangement. Richard Ritter of Flanagan State Bank built on that idea. He suggested that the landowner offer some kind of add-on bonus for the farmer if the harvest that year was especially good. That bonus would be another incentive to the farmer to make the custom farming work a higher priority and to be more satisfied with the relationship.
Outreach Idea for Finding Land: Aaron shared that when he first shifted to organic grain farming in 1997, he immediately sent letters to the ~12 farm managers operating in his area. He introduced himself and his organic operation and made clear that he was looking for more land to farm. He didn’t hear from any of them until about two years later, when one of the farm managers let him know about a landowner looking for an organic grower. This turned into a long-term leasing arrangement for Aaron. (We saw two lessons in that story. First, don’t forget that farm managers can have a wide network of landowner connections. Second, the connections you make through networking of any kind may not bear fruit immediately, but can still pay off in the long run.)
We’re grateful to Aaron, Doug, and Janeen for candidly sharing their experiences and ideas during the session.