{"id":11711,"date":"2023-01-23T01:31:36","date_gmt":"2023-01-23T07:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/?p=11711"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T20:13:12","slug":"case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Illustrates Importance of Farm Leases Being in Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We have another reminder of the importance of putting agricultural leases in writing.\u00a0 This one comes from the Texarkana Court of Appeals in\u00a0<em>Coniglio v. Woods.<\/em> [Read opinion <a href=\"https:\/\/search.txcourts.gov\/SearchMedia.aspx?MediaVersionID=7151659a-02bb-428d-b3e7-f9692fbd028f&amp;MediaID=498a07ff-d751-443b-a36d-6e995e4c3d58&amp;coa=%22%20+%20this.CurrentWebState.CurrentCourt%20+%20@%22&amp;DT=Opinion\">here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11712\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11712\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11712\" src=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2022\/12\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-1024x444.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"278\" srcset=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2022\/12\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-1024x444.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2022\/12\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-300x130.jpg 300w, https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2022\/12\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-768x333.jpg 768w, https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2022\/12\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-1536x666.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2022\/12\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-2048x888.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-11712\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@ambarculhane7012?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Ambar Culhane<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/s\/photos\/hay-field?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Background<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Candido John Coniglio, Sr. (&#8220;Senior&#8221;) owned a 5,100 acre farm in Fannin County which was managed by his son, Candido John Coniglio, Jr. (&#8220;Junior&#8221;). Michael Woods owned the adjacent farm.<\/p>\n<p>Woods hired workers to cut hay on his property.\u00a0 Senior agreed to allow Woods to cut and bale 107 acres of hay on Senior&#8217;s property in exchange for giving Woods a portion of the hay crop with Woods getting 60% and Senior and Junior getting 40%. Starting in 2015, Woods cut Senior&#8217;s hay based on this oral agreement.\u00a0 Senior and Junior testified this oral agreement was on a year-to-year basis, but Woods claimed he and Junior entered into a five-year lease of the farm, which would allow him to cut and bale hay until December 31, 2020.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, Woods drafted a letter that was sent to the County FSA Office stating:\u00a0 <em>&#8220;This is to inform you that Michael J. Woods operated my farm no. 1077 (approximately 107 acres) agriculturally for hay. This lease agreement began in 2015 and will continue through December 31, 2020.&#8221;<\/em>\u00a0 The letter was signed by Woods and Junior.<\/p>\n<p>In 2018, Woods was denied permission to cut the hay.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Litigation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Woods filed suit against Senior and Junior for a breach of the written farm lease agreement.<\/p>\n<p>Junior and Senior asserted the Statute of Frauds as an affirmative defense, claiming that the contract, if any, that formed the basis of the claims was too ambiguous.\u00a0 They argue that the only agreement was a year-to-year hay splitting agreement and not an agreement to lease the property.\u00a0 Junior admits to signing the FSA letter but says he only did so because Woods told him he needed it for his subsidy payments.\u00a0 Junior did not take any money in exchange for the lease and did not consider the letter to constitute a farm lease.<\/p>\n<p>The trial court found the letter did constitute a memorandum of agreement that satisfied the Statute of Frauds, and the parties were bound by the terms of the agreement.\u00a0 It also found that Senior breached the agreement by excluding Woods from the property.\u00a0 Thus, the court granted partial summary judgment as to the breach of contract claim with a hearing for damages to come later.<\/p>\n<p>A couple of months later, Woods added additional parties&#8211;entities owned by Senior&#8211; as defendants and added a number of claims including tortious interference with prospective contract, unjust enrichment, and violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.\u00a0 Senior filed an answer on behalf of the entities.\u00a0 Woods moved to strike the answer arguing the entities could not represent themselves without counsel and that their answer was filed beyond the time set forth in the scheduling deadline.\u00a0 After the answer was stricken, the court entered judgment against Senior and the entities, jointly and severally, for a total of over $1.25 million.<\/p>\n<p>Senior and the entities appealed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Court of Appeals Opinion\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Texarkana Court of Appeals reversed.\u00a0 [Read Opinion <a href=\"https:\/\/search.txcourts.gov\/SearchMedia.aspx?MediaVersionID=7151659a-02bb-428d-b3e7-f9692fbd028f&amp;MediaID=498a07ff-d751-443b-a36d-6e995e4c3d58&amp;coa=%22%20+%20this.CurrentWebState.CurrentCourt%20+%20@%22&amp;DT=Opinion\">here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n<p><em>Summary judgment was improper<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The court held that summary judgment was improper due to the existence of disputed facts.\u00a0 Specifically, the length of the lease and whether the letter was intended to be a lease agreement were both disputed.<\/p>\n<p>Senior testified he was unaware of any written lease and that he allowed Woods to cut hay on a year-to-year basis.\u00a0 Junior testified that Woods had permission to cut and bale hay on a year-to-year basis and that he did so for two years.\u00a0 Further, Junior said he only signed the letter so that Woods could get his FSA subsidies and that he never intended for it to be a lease agreement.\u00a0 Junior claims that when he told Woods in 2018 he did not need Woods to cut his hay, Woods did not protest.<\/p>\n<p>Woods testified that the parties operated under an oral agreement until he and Junior entered into a five-year lease confirmed by the USDA letter.\u00a0 Woods further testified that despite what he believes was a written lease agreement, Senior and Junior simultaneously leased the farm to other parties and received rent, which interfered with his ability to use the farm.\u00a0 This included allowing another farmer to cut hay in 2020 and a solar farm to begin construction the same year. He also presented a letter from the FSA office, asserting the letter to be a valid 5-year lease.<\/p>\n<p><em>Statute of Frauds was not satisfied<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When a promise or agreement cannot be completed within a year, it falls within the Statute of Frauds and is not enforceable unless it is in writing and signed by the person to be charged.\u00a0 Similarly, a lease of land for a year or more must also satisfy these requirements.\u00a0 Specifically, the Statute of Frauds requires &#8220;that a memorandum of an agreement&#8230;be complete within itself in every material detail and contain all of the essential elements of the agreement so that the contract can be ascertained from the writings without resorting to oral testimony.&#8221;\u00a0 The material terms of an agreement must be set forth with &#8220;a reasonable degree of uncertainty and definiteness.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The court found the USDA letter insufficient to meet the Statute of Frauds. Although it purported to memorialize a lease, it lacked a number of material terms.\u00a0 First, it said that Woods &#8220;operated&#8221; the farm in the past under unspecified terms and without defining what &#8220;operated&#8221; means.\u00a0 It did not make clear whether Woods was obligated to do anything going forward.\u00a0 The letter contained none of the terms of the lease, but simply stated that it would continue to December 2020.\u00a0 It did not include terms of consideration or price, did not explain what other rights Woods might have typically associated with leases, and was insufficient to establish the parties&#8217; obligations.\u00a0 Because there was no valid written agreement, Woods was not entitled to summary judgment.<\/p>\n<p><em>Answer should not have been stricken<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The court also found that the entities&#8217; answer should not have been stricken.\u00a0 The judge struck the answer based on a scheduling order to which the entities were not a party.\u00a0 They should have been given the standard time to answer the complaint, with which they complied.\u00a0 \u00a0Thus, the default ruling was reversed and the entities will be given the chance to answer.<\/p>\n<p><em>Ruling<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In light of this, the trial court judgment is reversed and remanded for further proceedings.\u00a0 The deadline to appeal has not yet passed, so it is unclear whether Woods will appeal this decision.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If I have said it once, I have said it a million times.\u00a0 It is critical for all agricultural leases to be put in writing.\u00a0 This does not mean a two sentence letter to the FSA office.\u00a0 It also does not mean a simple check box form with blanks to check.\u00a0 Taking the time to draft a written lease agreement protects the rights of both parties and protects the relationship between them.\u00a0 This endeavor need not be overly complex. We have leasing resources available <a href=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2022\/02\/Ranchers-Agricultural-Leasing-Handbook-1.pdf\">here<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/aglease101.org\/\">Ag Lease 101 website<\/a> has good resources as well.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, it bears mentioning that a party should never sign anything without reading and understanding what it means.\u00a0 Here, Junior signing the letter for the FSA office that referred to the parties&#8217; agreement as a &#8220;lease&#8221; with a 5-year term was problematic when he claims that he did not understand or intend for there to actually be a multi-year lease on the property.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We have another reminder of the importance of putting agricultural leases in writing.\u00a0 This one comes from the Texarkana Court of Appeals in\u00a0Coniglio v. Woods. [Read opinion here.] Background Candido John Coniglio, Sr. (&#8220;Senior&#8221;) owned a 5,100 acre farm in Fannin County which was managed by his son, Candido John Coniglio, Jr. (&#8220;Junior&#8221;). Michael Woods owned the adjacent farm. Woods hired workers to cut hay on his property.\u00a0 Senior agreed to allow Woods to cut and bale 107 acres of hay on Senior&#8217;s property in exchange for giving&#8230; <span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/\">Read More &rarr;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2444,"featured_media":11712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leases"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Case Illustrates Importance of Farm Leases Being in Writing - Texas Agriculture Law<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Case Illustrates Importance of Farm Leases Being in Writing - Texas Agriculture Law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We have another reminder of the importance of putting agricultural leases in writing.\u00a0 This one comes from the Texarkana Court of Appeals in\u00a0Coniglio v. Woods. [Read opinion here.] Background Candido John Coniglio, Sr. (&#8220;Senior&#8221;) owned a 5,100 acre farm in Fannin County which was managed by his son, Candido John Coniglio, Jr. (&#8220;Junior&#8221;). Michael Woods owned the adjacent farm. Woods hired workers to cut hay on his property.\u00a0 Senior agreed to allow Woods to cut and bale 107 acres of hay on Senior&#8217;s property in exchange for giving... Read More &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Texas Agriculture Law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/texasaglaw\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-23T07:31:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-17T20:13:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2022\/12\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1110\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tiffany.dowell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@tiffdowell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@tiffdowell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tiffany.dowell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/23\\\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/23\\\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"tiffany.dowell\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f44cbb97df9edaa18011b5258d733f73\"},\"headline\":\"Case Illustrates Importance of Farm Leases Being in Writing\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-23T07:31:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-17T20:13:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/23\\\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1260,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/23\\\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/files\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Leases\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/23\\\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/23\\\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\\\/\",\"name\":\"Case Illustrates Importance of Farm Leases Being in Writing - Texas Agriculture Law\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/23\\\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/23\\\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/files\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-23T07:31:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-17T20:13:12+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/23\\\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/23\\\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/23\\\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/files\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/files\\\/2022\\\/12\\\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1110,\"caption\":\"Photo by Ambar Culhane on Unsplash\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/23\\\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Case Illustrates Importance of Farm Leases Being in Writing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/\",\"name\":\"Texas Agriculture Law\",\"description\":\"Teaching, Research, Extension and Service\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Texas Agriculture Law\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/files\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/TZIFRg5K_400x400.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/files\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/TZIFRg5K_400x400.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Texas Agriculture Law\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/texasaglaw\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/tiffdowell\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/tiffany-dowell-lashmet-0a718778\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f44cbb97df9edaa18011b5258d733f73\",\"name\":\"tiffany.dowell\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasaglaw\\\/author\\\/tiffany-dowell\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Case Illustrates Importance of Farm Leases Being in Writing - Texas Agriculture Law","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Case Illustrates Importance of Farm Leases Being in Writing - Texas Agriculture Law","og_description":"We have another reminder of the importance of putting agricultural leases in writing.\u00a0 This one comes from the Texarkana Court of Appeals in\u00a0Coniglio v. Woods. [Read opinion here.] Background Candido John Coniglio, Sr. (&#8220;Senior&#8221;) owned a 5,100 acre farm in Fannin County which was managed by his son, Candido John Coniglio, Jr. (&#8220;Junior&#8221;). Michael Woods owned the adjacent farm. Woods hired workers to cut hay on his property.\u00a0 Senior agreed to allow Woods to cut and bale 107 acres of hay on Senior&#8217;s property in exchange for giving... Read More &rarr;","og_url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/","og_site_name":"Texas Agriculture Law","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/texasaglaw","article_published_time":"2023-01-23T07:31:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-17T20:13:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1110,"url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2022\/12\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"tiffany.dowell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@tiffdowell","twitter_site":"@tiffdowell","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tiffany.dowell","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/"},"author":{"name":"tiffany.dowell","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/#\/schema\/person\/f44cbb97df9edaa18011b5258d733f73"},"headline":"Case Illustrates Importance of Farm Leases Being in Writing","datePublished":"2023-01-23T07:31:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-17T20:13:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/"},"wordCount":1260,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2022\/12\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Leases"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/","url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/","name":"Case Illustrates Importance of Farm Leases Being in Writing - Texas Agriculture Law","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2022\/12\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2023-01-23T07:31:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-17T20:13:12+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2022\/12\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2022\/12\/ambar-culhane-SKpMv8GfgrE-unsplash-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1110,"caption":"Photo by Ambar Culhane on Unsplash"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/2023\/01\/23\/case-illustrates-importance-of-farm-leases-being-in-writing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Case Illustrates Importance of Farm Leases Being in Writing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/#website","url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/","name":"Texas Agriculture Law","description":"Teaching, Research, Extension and Service","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/#organization","name":"Texas Agriculture Law","url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2023\/12\/TZIFRg5K_400x400.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/files\/2023\/12\/TZIFRg5K_400x400.jpg","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Texas Agriculture Law"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/texasaglaw","https:\/\/x.com\/tiffdowell","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/tiffany-dowell-lashmet-0a718778\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/#\/schema\/person\/f44cbb97df9edaa18011b5258d733f73","name":"tiffany.dowell","url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/author\/tiffany-dowell\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2444"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasaglaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}