Farm and ag ground

On a house, what conveys is fairly standard. On farm ground it is not. Water shares, equipment, stored crop, fuel in the tank, hay in the barn, grain bins, pivots, wheel lines, and fencing materials are each their own conversation, and every one of them has been the thing that held up a closing at some point.

The rule that saves people is simple. If you expect it to be there on closing day, it belongs in the contract by name. Not implied, not discussed at the kitchen table, written down.

Plenty of ground here is farmed by somebody other than the owner. If there is a lease in place, find out what it says, when it ends, whether it renews on its own, and whether it survives the sale. A tenant with a crop in the ground has an interest in that crop, and that has to get sorted rather than assumed away.

If you are buying to farm it yourself starting next season, the timing of the lease matters as much as the price. If you are buying as an investment and want the tenant to stay, that is worth confirming with the tenant, not just with the seller.

Ask what has been grown on it and in what rotation. Ask about the irrigation system and its age, because a wheel line and a pivot are different investments and different labor. Ask about drainage, salinity, and which corners do not produce and why.

Ask about the greenbelt status too, because on working ground it usually applies, and what you intend to do with the parcel determines whether that stays clean. That is its own page.

The mistake I see most on the sell side is marketing farm ground as though it were a large residential lot. Different buyer, different questions, different price. Ground that is presented with the water documented, the lease situation clear, and the production history in hand sells to somebody who understands what they are looking at, and it sells for what it is worth.

If you have ground you are thinking about, I will walk it with you and tell you honestly what I think it is and who the buyer for it is.