As developers demand more land in the First State, the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension has launched a survey for farmers on rental rates.
The survey asks farmers to identify their farms, bushel rates and what they feel is a fair rental agreement to lease land to grow crops. Individual responses will be kept private, but cumulatively, it will be used to assess the average rate farmers are paying to rent out land — and how that impacts a farm’s cash flow.
“Development pressure has increased land values significantly in the state and farmland availability is decreasing at a rapid pace. Farming is becoming a difficult business as commodity prices are decreasing and production costs are increasing,” UD Farm Business Management Specialist Nate Bruce, who is collecting the survey responses, told the Delaware Business Times.
“We want to use the results from the survey to help producers make more accurate decisions when they are making budgeting decisions for the upcoming crop year and they show them different returns at different rental rates seen across the state,” he added.
Source : DBT