The Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey and Report 2018-2019 provides insight on recent trends in the market value of land and cash rental across the state. Each year the special feature section from this report covers topics on new or emerging issues related to the agricultural land industry in Nebraska. These topics reflect interest expressed by panel members and readership of the Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights Reports. The special feature section in 2019 focuses on trends and considerations for cover crops across Nebraska and implications on cropland lease arrangements.

Findings from the 2017 Census of Agriculture in Table 1 provide an overview of the utilization of cover crops across the eight districts of the state (USDA-NASS, 2019). Approximately 748,000 acres of cover crops were grown by about 38,000 operators on approximately 22 million acres of cropland across Nebraska in 2017. Cover crops were planted on about 3.4 percent of cropland acres across the state by 4,419 operators.

 

The number of cropland acres in each district varied greatly across the state. Utilization of cover crops also varied greatly across the eight regions. Arid areas such as the Northwest, North, and Southwest Districts tended to grow around 50,000 acres of cover crops on roughly 2.4 percent of the cropland acres. The Northeast, Central and East Districts each planted around 100,000 acres or more of cover crops on roughly 4.2 percent of the cropland acres. The number of operators in each of these regions planting cover crops also varied. In percentage terms, the cropland operators planting cover crops varied from a low of 7.4 percent in the Northwest District compared to a high 14.8 percent in the Central District.

When planting a cover crop, the motivation of the landowner or operator may vary depending upon their agronomic needs and/or management requirements. Increased interest in cover crops in recent years has come from the perceived benefits to the land and mitigation of environmental issues. Cover crops are used to reduce soil degradation (i.e. erosion) as well as enhance soil quality (i.e. organic matter and nutritive content). These effects may take multiple years to fully materialize but they also tend to persist for several years into the future. Grazing the cover crops or harvesting for forage are perceived as viable options for generating benefits on a more immediate basis.

The underlying motivation for utilizing cover crops remains important as the operator may incur additional establishment and termination expenses for the land in the year of use while the benefits provided may be spread out over several years into the future. Figure 1 summarizes the major reasons for planting cover crops across Nebraska.

Figure 1

Division of cover crop establishment expenses remains a provision to consider in a cropland lease arrangement. Benefits from utilizing a cover crop may exceed the length of the current lease. Figure 2 summarizes the dollar per acre rental discount on a cropland lease provided to a tenant when planting a cover crop.

Figure 2

Panel members indicated that slightly over 80 percent of land leases do not provide a discount to tenants for planting cover crops. About 15 percent of leases provided a small discount, between $1 and  $9 per acre. Opportunities exist in lease negotiations to more equitability divide cover crop expenses.

Table 1. Cover Crop Practices for Cropland and Operators in 2017, by Agricultural Statistics District in Nebraskaa

County and Agricultural Statistics District

Planted Acres

 

 Cropland Acres Planted to Cover Crops (%) Number of Operators Cropland Operators Planted Cover Crops (%)
  Cover Crops Cropland   Planted Cover Crops Planted Cropland  
Banner 1,710 191,224 0.9 14 193 7.3
Box Butte 11,241 346,638 3.2 31 329 9.4
Cheyenne 3,881 528,751 7.3 29 492 6.0
Dawes 2,383 174,531 1.4 22 368 6.0
Deuel 1,256 226,814 0.6 5 201 2.5
Garden 2,426 166,330 1.5 8 179 4.5
Kimball 2,740 410,680 0.7 16 369 4.3
Morrill 11,727 242,450 4.8 37 351 10.5
Scotts Bluff 7,619 218,126 3.5 63 573 11.0
Sheridan 6,152 301,456 2.0 28 416 6.7
Sioux 1,749 97,637 1.8 21 211 10.0
Northwest 52,884 2,904,637 1.8 274 3,682 7.4
             
Arthur 730 31,693 2.3 8 61 13.1
Blaine 395 28,818 1.4 6 58 10.3
Boyd 2,511 135,575 1.9 22 241 9.1
Brown 5,116 108,102 4.7 18 181 9.9
Cherry 3,898 383,698 1.0 19 377 5.0
Garfield 1,250 66,383 1.9 13 121 10.7
Grant b 50,552 - 1 43 2.3
Holt 27,584 607,954 4.5 130 899 14.5
Hooker b 6,797 - 1 20 5.0
Keya Paha 3,851 95,619 4.0 13 170 7.6
Logan 999 41,865 2.4 7 65 10.8
Loup 845 24,049 3.5 9 93 9.7
McPherson 932 22,733 4.1 4 50 8.0
Rock 2,050 121,374 1.7 14 148 9.5
Thomas b 7,406 - 3 29 10.3
Wheeler 7,828 87,779 8.9 38 130 29.2
North 57,989 1,820,397 3.2 306 2,686 11.4
             
Antelope 23,516 364,429 6.5 117 583 20.1
Boone 9,321 319,202 2.9 67 470 14.3
Burt 3,348 275,222 1.2 42 476 8.8
Cedar 8,347 393,200 2.1 87 692 12.6
Cuming 11,672 330,140 3.5 82 691 11.9
Dakota 81 151,099 0.1 3 244 1.2
Dixon 6,403 221,799 2.9 62 463 13.4
Knox 10,298 323,551 3.2 109 792 13.8
Madison 25,538 312,084 8.2 141 593 23.8
Pierce 14,727 275,201 5.4 119 540 22.0
Stanton 12,148 203,713 6.0 65 493 13.2
Thurston 2,714 206,766 1.3 19 279 6.8
Wayne 5,772 253,645 2.3 47 401 11.7
Northeast 133,885 3,630,051 3.7 960 6,717 14.3
             
Buffalo 10,066 324,488 3.1 70 744 9.4
Custer 34,485 481,876 7.2 175 779 22.5
Dawson 12,893 303,662 4.2 62 518 12.0
Greeley 10,719 156,471 6.9 74 321 23.1
Hall 4,955 272,034 1.8 30 489 6.1
Howard 14,522 177,984 8.2 97 504 19.2
Sherman 3,615 158,959 2.3 34 302 11.3
Valley 7,230 172,629 4.2 43 292 14.7
Central 98,485 2,048,103 4.8 585 3,949 14.8
             
Butler 19,312 319,085 6.1 94 600 15.7
Cass 7,478 306,383 2.4 71 628 11.3
Colfax 15,898 240,401 6.6 81 443 18.3
Dodge 7,903 312,456 2.5 59 627 9.4
Douglas 3,808 81,581 4.7 26 303 8.6
Hamilton 17,796 286,661 6.2 49 485 10.1
Lancaster 14,361 362,935 4.0 133 1,547 8.6
Merrick 12,302 201,497 6.1 60 388 15.5
Nance 10,285 158,833 6.5 62 311 19.9
Platte 18,908 336,411 5.6 96 768 12.5
Polk 8,274 224,983 3.7 31 407 7.6
Sarpy 1,078 92,986 1.2 38 348 10.9
Saunders 17,747 436,188 4.1 110 952 11.6
Seward 18,924 310,452 6.1 104 811 12.8
Washington 1,949 215,935 0.9 34 602 5.6
York 10,193 327,256 3.1 54 475 11.4
East 186,216 4,214,043 4.4 1,102 9,695 11.4
             
Chase 8,375 322,955 2.6 28 244 11.5
Dundy 1,322 210,461 0.6 14 245 5.7
Frontier 6,024 203,805 3.0 35 243 14.4
Hayes 5,046 195,667 2.6 17 180 9.4
Hitchcock 662 228,336 0.3 16 241 6.6
Keith 7,805 226,675 3.4 21 245 8.6
Lincoln 23,661 421,610 5.6 87 687 12.7
Perkins 6,302 432,062 1.5 31 343 9.0
Red Willow 1,656 248,186 0.7 16 258 6.2
Southwest 60,853 2,489,757 2.4 265 2,686 9.9
             
Adams 15,816 300,549 5.3 55 439 12.5
Franklin 10,426 187,011 5.6 44 275 16.0
Furnas 2,571 291,461 0.9 20 315 6.3
Gosper 7,823 150,248 5.2 41 225 18.2
Harlan 4,330 220,639 2.0 40 224 17.9
Kearney 28,534 244,933 11.6 67 299 22.4
Phelps 7,534 277,090 2.7 41 328 12.5
Webster 6,213 206,158 3.0 35 326 10.7
South 83,247 1,878,089 4.4 343 2,431 14.1
             
Clay 6,836 259,454 2.6 31 363 8.5
Fillmore 7,011 305,326 2.3 35 404 8.7
Gage 8,900 449,429 2.0 88 987 8.9
Jefferson 3,002 283,739 1.1 36 517 7.0
Johnson 8,544 137,665 6.2 32 446 7.2
Nemaha 6,177 229,970 2.7 62 365 17.0
Nuckolls 8,344 248,692 3.4 65 381 17.1
Otoe 5,506 331,038 1.7 58 718 8.1
Pawnee 1,189 183,745 0.6 19 407 4.7
Richardson 7,316 272,419 2.7 73 630 11.6
Saline 4,819 305,041 1.6 41 653 6.3
Thayer 5,559 251,004 2.2 44 367 12.0
Southeast 73,203 3,257,522 2.2 584 6,238 9.4
             
Statec 747,903 22,242,599 3.4 4,419 38,084 11.6


a 2017 Census of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistical Service, USDA.
b Value not released due to county-level disclosure. 
c District values may not sum to state totals due to county-level disclosure.