When there’s interest in implementing conservation practices on rented ground, renters and owners will need to come to an agreement.

Since conservation practices promote long-term benefits and require multiple seasons to implement, it may also be a good time to consider a longer-term, written lease rather than an informal one-year agreement.

For a renter to qualify for multiyear conservation programs with the Natural Resources Conservation District or Soil and Water Conservation District, they’ll need to show they have a lease for that length of time and consent from the landlord.

Lease language should support specific conservation goals. There are no hard and fast rules on how to write it.

Here are a few examples of ways to structure leases for conservation:

This may be a difficult conversation. Go in with questions, not demands. Maybe the goal for the first meeting is as simple as learning what your renter or landowner’s perspective is on cover crops or vertical tillage. The long-term goal may be a change in farming practices, but that will be more successful if it’s built on a trusting relationship.

Cates is the State Soil Health Specialist in the Minnesota Office for Soil Health.