Listen to my conversation with Jim Jansen by clicking on link above.

In the latest episode of Down in the Weeds, Nebraska Farmer was joined by Nebraska Extension ag economist Jim Jansen to discuss a new topic to the podcast — land lease arrangements, and a range of considerations that go into these arrangements.

"When it comes to Nebraska, we can either have a written lease or a verbal lease. When it comes to verbal lease arrangements, the Supreme Court for the State of Nebraska has ruled that we must give notice six months prior to the expiration of the lease if we choose to make changes to the lease or to terminate the lease," Jansen says. "In Nebraska, leases, whether they're written or verbal related to cropland typically run from March 1 of the current year to Feb. 28 or 29 of the following year."

So, terminating verbal leases typically requires giving the landowner written notice prior to Sept. 1 of the current year. Written leases are different, however, and can have automatic clauses that allow them to roll over at the end of the lease. Whether or not written leases are renewed depends on different terms that might be included in the lease.

"That's the most basic thing when it comes to leases is we need to have it verbal or written," Jansen adds. "We want to have a written lease more so than a verbal, because with verbal leases, things can be contested. Or the parties involved in it, especially if you have an older landowner, may not be known to those individuals that stand to inherit the property."