Agricultural & Crop Lease (CA Only)

$3,650.00

This flat-fee service is designed for California farmland owners and agricultural tenants who want a comprehensive written lease tailored to the realities of agricultural property.

A farm lease involves much more than rent and possession. Water and irrigation, permitted crops and agricultural activities, farming practices, improvements, maintenance, access, insurance, environmental responsibilities, crop ownership, holdover, and the condition and return of the property can all become important during the lease term.

Generic residential and commercial lease forms were not designed around these issues. This package provides a customized, attorney-drafted agricultural lease built around the property, intended agricultural use, and business terms agreed upon by the parties.

What This Service Includes

This flat-fee service includes preparation of a California agricultural or crop lease for a straightforward landlord-tenant arrangement involving agricultural real property.

Depending on the property and transaction, the lease may address the lease term and rent; permitted crops and agricultural uses; water and irrigation rights and responsibilities; utilities; access; farming and cultivation practices; maintenance and repair; fences, roads and other improvements; ownership and removal of improvements or equipment; insurance and indemnity; compliance with applicable laws; assignment and subleasing; default; termination; holdover; surrender of the premises; and allocation of other risks and responsibilities associated with agricultural use.

The agreement is customized to the transaction rather than simply adapting a standard residential or commercial lease form.

One consultation of up to thirty (30) minutes is included to discuss the proposed arrangement and important drafting decisions. We will then prepare the lease based on the information and agreed business terms provided to us.

How It Works

After engaging our office, you will complete an intake providing information about the property, intended agricultural use, rent, lease term, water and irrigation arrangements, existing improvements, and the other material terms of the transaction.

We will use that information to prepare a customized California agricultural lease. The completed draft will be provided for review, and reasonable revisions necessary to accurately reflect the information and agreed terms provided to us are included before the document is finalized.

The result is a comprehensive lease specifically prepared for the agricultural property and arrangement rather than a generic lease adapted to fit it.

Why This Matters

Agricultural property has practical and legal issues that are easy to overlook when the parties focus primarily on acreage, rent, and lease duration.

Questions about who controls or pays for water, who maintains irrigation infrastructure, what may be planted, what happens to crops or improvements at the end of the lease, who bears responsibility for particular property conditions, and how the land must be returned can have significant financial consequences.

Putting those expectations into a carefully drafted agreement at the beginning of the relationship provides both sides with a clearer understanding of their rights and responsibilities and reduces uncertainty later.

What This Service Does Not Include

The flat fee is intended for a straightforward agricultural lease with conventional cash-rent or similarly defined economic terms.

The package does not include negotiation with the other party, title or water-rights investigation, environmental investigation, tax advice, regulatory or land-use analysis, agricultural consulting, or verification that a particular crop or agricultural activity is legally permitted on the property.

Crop-share arrangements, complex participation or profit-sharing structures, multiple properties or ownership groups, unusual water-rights issues, substantial improvements or development obligations, and other transactions requiring materially greater customization may require additional fees. Please contact our office for a revised quote if your proposed arrangement involves these or other unusual circumstances.