Well done. My concern is as…

Well done. My concern is as a soil conserving corn, soybean and alfalfa farmer who owns and rents land, I would like to comment on the renting of farmland practice. When I rent land, I treat it as I do my own land and improve upon what I start with by the use of my practices. As the land improves, I get pressure from the landowner, who only wants to rent it to me on an annual basis, to pay higher rent. Soon other farmers come along and offer more rent and the ones that I cant compete with are the vegetable farmers. They can pay the highest rent for land and in just a couple of years can destroy a farms soil on the sandy Fox Sand here. Sloping land is even worse. I had rented a farm for 5 years when the landowner came to me for double the rent or it was going to a vegetable farmer. I said I couldn't compete with the price so I lost the farm. 3 years later, after continuous vegetable crops, the farm had erosion gullies 15' wide and 3' deep down the slopes. The vegetable farmer no longer wanted to rent the property so the now widow on the farm came to me and thought she was doing me a favour by offering to rent it back to me. She was surprised when I said that I didn't want it. A few days later she came back and had a long discussion with me to encourage me to take the land. We agreed that she would pay for an earth mover and bulldozer to move the soil back up the slopes into the washouts and I would farm the field for free for three years due to the low production of what was left for soil. It took several years to get a decent crop of hay from the eroded land but it is gradually improving with soil amendments applied called enviro which is made from dried municipal waste and limestone. The soil will never be the same due to the layers all being mixed from the erosion aspect. My point is that landowners need to have the knowledge to only deal with reputable tenants who will practice soil conservation and offer leases on a long term basis. The outcome would be better soil, better water infiltration and less nutrient loading of the waterways. I would welcome working on a system for landowners to have a checklist when renting to a tenant. Have also found that the Dean of the University of Guelph doesn't promote the use of municipal waste. I had a landowner call the Dean of the University and he recommended that it was not a good practice. I was shocked at his response.

[Original Comment ID: 211560]