Add a farm lease in writing to your holiday wish list

Dec 30, 2019 at 08:25 AM CST
Christmas is a good time to make wishes for the peace and well-being of others. One of our top wishes this year does that: we hope for all farmers in Ohio to have written farmland leases. It’s an odd wish, we know. But putting leases in writing can help landowners and farm tenants live in peace, and we like that. Farm leases have always been prone to being verbal agreements, sealed with a handshake. Simplicity and trust are two plausible reasons we’ve done business that way. But a written farm lease can be simple, and using one doesn’t have to mean that the parties don’t trust each another. Instead, a lease can keep distrust from arising between the parties by anticipating needs and foreclosing uncertainties and disagreements.

Dec 30, 2019 at 08:25 AM CST

Christmas is a good time to make wishes for the peace and well-being of others. One of our top wishes this year does that: we hope for all farmers in Ohio to have written farmland leases. It’s an odd wish, we know. But putting leases in writing can help landowners and farm tenants live in peace, and we like that. Farm leases have always been prone to being verbal agreements, sealed with a handshake. Simplicity and trust are two plausible reasons we’ve done business that way. But a written farm lease can be simple, and using one doesn’t have to mean that the parties don’t trust each another. Instead, a lease can keep distrust from arising between the parties by anticipating needs and foreclosing uncertainties and disagreements.