Recently, my colleagues Shannon Ferrell (Oklahoma State), Rusty Rumley (National Agriculture Law Center), and I held a series of workshops around Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas discussing agricultural leases.  These programs were well attended (nearly 250 people total) and participants reported being very satisfied with the information they received.  The funding for these workshops and the handbook was provided through a grant from the Southern Extension Risk Management Education Center and the USDA.  We certainly appreciate their support of these programs.

We’d also like to offer a huge thank you to Austin Voyles who assisted with presenting, Paul Goeringer who assisted with drafting the handbook, and Fred Hall, Kim Garcia, and Kareta Casey who helped with meeting logistics.  Lastly, a big thank you to Plains Land Bank who furnished the meal for the Amarillo program.

As part of this grant, we drafted a handbook titled “Ranchers’ Agricultural Leasing Handbook” for ranchers to use when dealing with considering and negotiating lease agreements.  This handbook covers a variety of issues related to leasing, and includes checklists of what parties should consider when preparing grazing, hunting, and livestock leases.

Chapters Include:

1. Why lease land or livestock?
2. Why is a written lease necessary?
3. Setting the payments for a lease.
4. When can a landowner or lessee be liable for injuries to a third party?
5. Drafting a valid liability waiver.
6. Grazing lease checklist
7. Sample grazing lease
8. Hunting lease checklist
9. Sample hunting lease
10. Livestock lease checklist
11. Sample livestock lease

Photo by Lori Martin

To obtain a copy of the handbook, click here.

Ranchers Leasing Workshop is now available on demand to be taken anytime at your own pace. To register click here.