Grain cropping on leased or share-farmed land

Grain merchants, grain handlers and marketers, and feed or food processors who buy your harvest.

You sell the grain at harvest or store it and sell later. Your return is sales minus lease or landowner share, seed, fertiliser, chemicals and contractor costs.

• Understanding crop agronomy
• Budgeting and managing risk
• Managing contractors
• Grain marketing

• Get the lease or share farming agreement checked by a solicitor with rural experience
• Drought, frost and price swings can cause a loss, so only risk money you can afford
• Chemical user training or permits for spraying, which vary by state
• Crop and public liability insurance, and workers compensation if you hire
• Startup money is mostly working capital for lease payments, seed, fertiliser, chemicals and contractors, which you must fund months before harvest. Costs rise with the area you crop, so check what lenders will accept for a new operator
• Check marketing, storage and delivery terms with your grain buyer

Startup costs are estimated at typically around $80,000 to $300,000, depending on the area you crop. Most of this is working capital for lease payments, seed, fertiliser, chemicals and contractors, paid months before harvest.

Estimates suggest monthly revenue of typically around $3,000 to $15,000, depending on area, yields, prices and your deal with the landowner. Drought, frost and price swings can cause a loss, so only risk money you can afford.

Have the lease or share farming agreement checked by a solicitor with rural experience. Also check chemical user training or permits in your state, crop and public liability insurance, workers compensation if you hire, and your grain buyer's marketing, storage and delivery terms.