advice , land rent violation

i am the sub renter of 15 acres of nice corn ground ,, my haying pal neighbor has been cutting hay off this place for over 25yrs rents the entire 70 acres from a wealthy interior trim contractor with (farm roots) that has bought the place 20 yrs. ago My pal came to me 15+ yrs ago , and says they would like row crops growing on the bottom strip,, would i like to raise corn with him? ,,.we made a 50/50 deal , pal pays the rent for entire farm , we split expensesdpwn the middle, , except ,all planting, spraying ,.harvesting tractoring expense is on me ,.. /// now the problem ,3 weeks ago the corn still had a lot of green leaves , Out of the BLUE ,,. the owner told my pal ,he needs the corn off a corner because he wants to build a barn, wants to hand pik it ,is that ok ,.. SURE , I Tell My Pal ,,.. I will Come Help if They Want . let me know when ,. a week later i call my pal and ask about if they need a wagon i freed up ,..My Pal Says Forget It,. They Bolldozed 180 x 80 ft area, decided pikin was gonna take to long ,,. T am flabberghasted..i asked if he said anytrhing about compensation ,, he says NOPe , They JUST DID IT ! , I Told My Pal I think He owes us 500 bux for destroying our crop ,Bever Heard nuthin Back , Except now he wants to grade the site bigger so they can get equipment in to work on the building , I am Not Well, hands legs are crap, and i tire easily And This kind of shytstresspressure throws me in a panic since my cancer scare ,,. , the contractor claims he dont have enuf room ,.I am Still tooling up the combine ... I THINK i know my Rites in this state of INDIANA , AND I am Biting My Tongue not to Foul up my Pals hay gtound ,, But Sheesh , i think i8 am gonna have a lawyer rite a letter to the owner ,if things dont get better ,.All Good Advice Appreciated ,..
 
Is there a lease, and if so, is your name on the lease? As I understand it, your buddy is technically the tenant, which means you and the landlord have no contract. On the other hand, you and your buddy are partners, and your partner has agreed to let the landlord do something that has cost you a lot of money. Unless I misunderstand something, your beef is with your so-called "Pal", NOT the landlord.
 
I don't believe they did the right thing. Here in Pa, a farmer has the right to harvest a crop he plants, so you would be entitled to harvest your crop. 80x180 is about 1/3 of an acre, or 66 bushels if the corn is 200 bushel per acre. Do you want to continue to farm this? I am sure that if you make a stink, someone else will farm it next year. I'd say the best thing is forget about it.
 
Don't let it bother you. Sometimes you just have to say "What the f--k" and move on. Be glad it's only a couple hundred bucks. Truth be told we've all had things like that happen.
 
I will second Josh on this your talking about 1/3 of an acre of ground. Even IF they clear more, like a half an acre, your still not talking anywhere near $500.

Yes the land owner should have communicated better but you do not know if he did or not since YOUR not the renter. Your friend is the renter. I would bet that you do not have a contract with the friend and I bet he does not with the owner. The reason I say this is all of my land rental contacts clearly say I can not sub rent the ground.

So lets say they tear up more and it totals half an acre. At 200 BPA that would be 100 bushels at $3. Current cash price is not much higher and this was not harvested. So your getting worked up over $300 at the most.

I would say you would have better luck seeing if your friend would help you out some and forget pushing the land owner on this. So the $300 would be about $4.30 per acre on the total. If it is a deal breaker for you then ask your friend to pay you. I would bet that the land owner can easily have a new tenant for next year for the entire 70 acres.

Since you have not talked directly to the owner you do not knew for sure what has happened or has been agreed on. Also as a sub renter you have very few RIGHTS with the land owner unless you have a contract with him.

Here is how I would go. One I would not have left you hang on destroying the corn if I was the owner. I also would not get so worked up over some thing that is going to be a $300 issue at the most. Life is too short and compared to a major health problem it is nothing. So I would asked my friend for some compensation but I would NOT rock the boat too hard. Things like this happen when your not the owner of land. The Owner wanted a barn built now during good weather. So that is what is going to happen. Your out the crop either way. Rock the boat hard an you and your friend will be out the entire farm next year.
 
I agree with the Belgian, sometimes you just got to bit the bullet and move on. I would get over and pick it before they damage any more though. I've been through the same thing myself on a small plot of corn and got about a days notice to get over their and get the corn off.

I think under the circumstances you describe you may loose more than you would gain by raising a stink.
 
I would not contact the owner because you have no contract with the owner, only with your partner.

Did the owner give your partner a deadline when construction will begin (no matter what) and the owner told your partner to harvest whatever he can before that deadline. If it was your responsibility to harvest and you could not meet that deadline, there isn't much you and your partner can do now. Are you and your partner sharing the harvest 50/50, so your failure to harvest before the construction deadline has cost your partner just as much as it has cost you?

If by chance, you get to keep all the harvest, and it was not your responsibility to harvest before construction started, only then could you reasonably asking your partner for some compensation.

If your combine isn't ready yet, consider hiring a combine to pick the rest of the construction site.
 
My Dad always said if you don't own it, you don't control it.

At the end of the day if this is the biggest problem you have, you ain't doing bad.

Forget it and move along. Raise a stink and you won't farm it any more.
 
Yes ,.. Flying Belgian , wisht you and others that answered were here to have a brew and chat and empathize,. i Agree with your assessment, and thank all of you for responding .. But I Still Dont Like IT ,,. AAnd I dont like people that think FARMLAND IS JUST LAND WAITING TO BE DEVELOPED ,.,. I have not gone up there to see it Yet,.but intend to be greased up and ready tomorrow to start shellin,,. i hope i dont need to talk to the guyor let alonesee theazWHOLE ,.i dont like s-o-bs like that that buy up land and push guys like me THAT BELONG TO THE LAND around ,.we see it here all the rime and it stinx !
 
I understand your disappointment in the lost of the crop, but I would just let it go. I would probably have been upset as well. If you complain the owner might just say I don't need this, I am going to look for a new renter. Then you are out. Sounds like you are sharing the "out of pocket" costs with your friend. The costs you pay for yourself for the most part weren't out of pocket, plus you do not have any harvest or drying costs on this portion. Lastly who knows what the communication was between the landowner and your friend. Just an outsider looking in. Remember you don't want to burn your bridges.
 
Since you are sub leading from the hay friend, you kinda have to sue him if you get a lawyer..... you have a 3-way thing going on and those get complicated as to who actually said what to whom.....

It isn't right, but like the others say, what can you do......

Paul
 

I have had similar happen to me. I think that we as farmers place a higher value on a crop than the average person. The owner has little idea of the value of the crop, and as JD said, he is looking at a construction window which really is a big deal. Don't forget that though you lose the value of the crop, that you also lose harvest costs. Look at the larger picture and the value of friendships and good will. I went off at the owner that did it to me a few years ago, and then after I cooled off I called him and apologized. Since then he has gone out of his way to be good to me.
 
About the only thing I would advise is to make sure your pal tells the landlord that you are coming to harvest the corn, like today or tomorrow if he would just hold off, and make sure you stick to your word, and get that corn off the day that you promised to do it.

Like the others have said, if you don't have anything in writing, you don't have a leg to stand on legally. Your pal might if he has something in writing, but again, the only reason to go after the landlord is if you don't want to work that ground again next year.

You don't have to like it but you also don't have to let it consume you.

At least he knocked down the corn to build a barn. It's not like he's developing the land.
 
Jd And Others ,,.. I just got off ph with ol friend of all of ours , He Mite post on thisissue ,. i really am not stressing ,, just feel violated ,. My Dad if he was still living ,,would be onthe sidelines ,,tellin me , "Ya gonna take that shyt??i sure wouldnt !" and in My Dads Days ,, He Would just went up and PUNCHED the Hale out of him ,,.went to the liqour store and bought a bottle and or a case of beer,,and come back up to the guy and offered him the bottle for peace an drank beer with him,.to smooth it all out ,.. but this carpetbagger guy aint worth any of that ,.
 
if you do not have anything in writing, it already over with. forget it and move on. if thats all this about life to short for the minor things in life. we all been there.
 
If its 80 X 180 you have lost about 1/3 of an acre so far, I would just calculate bushels times price based on the average and reduce next years rent check by that amount, then the renter will understand what it is like to get an unpleasent surprise and everyone will be even.
 
To me it's simple.....the deal you had is with your "buddy". He lets your crop get tore into, he bears the expense of your loss. It's pretty trivial, so ho oughta be able to soak it up.......And he has the duty of dealing with the landowner.
 

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