Young Farm High-Tech, High-Productivity, and High-Return Farming

Rental Analysis

Evaluate cash rent sustainability using the 25% gross revenue benchmark and year-by-year Kentucky profitability data. Enter your crop mix and current rent to see how your operation compares.

Start with:
—
Avg Gross Revenue
/ac
—
25% of Avg Revenue
(target ceiling) i
—
Avg Max Possible
(gross return) i
—
Your Weighted
Avg Rent/ac

Crop Mix i

Enter your crop mix (must total 100%) and current cash rent per crop. Values imported from Crop Budget will be highlighted.

× The 25% Rent Benchmark

University of Kentucky Extension research (Greg Halich) and the broader land economics literature consistently finds that a sustainable cash rent for row crop ground should not exceed approximately 25% of gross revenue — the value of the crop before any production costs are deducted.

This guideline is grounded in long-run average returns: across typical commodity price cycles, operators who pay rent above 25–30% of gross revenue face a high probability of operating losses in down years, eroding working capital and jeopardizing the tenancy.

  1. Halich, G. (2020–2026). Grain Profitability Outlook for Kentucky. University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
  2. Doye, D., & Sahs, R. (2013). Flexible Cash Lease Arrangements for Oklahoma. Oklahoma State University Extension.
  3. Edwards, W. (2014). Estimating a Fair Crop Share Lease. Iowa State University Extension.

The 25% figure is a guideline, not a guarantee. Individual operator efficiency, yield levels, input costs, and lease terms all affect sustainability.

× Max Possible Rent

"Max Possible" is the gross return before rent — revenue minus all non-rent production costs. It represents the theoretical maximum a tenant could pay and still break even (zero profit). In practice, a sustainable rent is well below this ceiling.

Years where the max possible figure is negative indicate that production costs exceeded crop revenue even before any rent payment — a loss year for the crop regardless of rent level.

Corn KY default: 50%
%
Full-season soybeans KY default: 0%
%
Wheat + DC beans KY default: 50%
%
Full-season wheat KY default: 0%
%
Crop mix totals 100%

Cash Rent

Corn rent KY default: $200/ac
$
Full-season soybean rent KY default: $200/ac
$
Wheat + DC beans rent KY default: $200/ac
$
Full-season wheat rent KY default: $200/ac
$

Sustainable Rent by Year

Three benchmarks per year · Hover or tap bars for values · All values per acre

25% of Gross Revenue
Max Possible (gross return)
Your Avg Rent

Year-by-Year Rental Data

Based on your crop mix · Dollars per acre

Sources & Notes. Benchmark gross revenue and production cost data from Greg Halich, University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension, Grain Profitability Outlook series, 2020–2026. Western Kentucky average-productivity assumptions: ~175 bu/ac corn, ~54–56 bu/ac full-season soybeans, ~72–88 bu/ac wheat, ~10% yield drag for double-crop soybeans. Prices are Kentucky season-average (market year average) prices received by farmers, USDA NASS QuickStats. The 25% gross revenue guideline is drawn from Halich (UK Extension) and the broader land rent sustainability literature (Iowa State Extension, Oklahoma State Extension). 2026 figures are projected. All values are per planted acre. For educational purposes only — not financial or legal advice.