Ready to see how modern land management turns uncertainty into clarity and fair rent? We sit down with Tyler Berby and Gavin Hlubeck from our land management team to unpack a practical, tech-enabled approach that helps non-operating owners protect assets and gives tenants a fair shot at acres. From first contact to year-end reporting, we walk through the full process in plain language.
We start with the essentials: twice-annual inspections that document crop stage, wet spots, access, alkali, and improvements. Drones now play a starring role, capturing aerial photos and video that reveal issues a ground pass can miss—fence breaks, weed patches, washouts—and speeding up decisions on repairs. Those visuals flow into comprehensive reports that owners can share with family, complete with notes and, when available, yield details that show how fields actually performed.
When it’s time to set or reset rent, we break down how data and local knowledge meet. Portfolio comparables, soil productivity indexes, access, and nearby results guide pricing that’s realistic rather than wishful. And when owners want open-market discovery, a lease bid auction can surface true demand. After targeted marketing and written bids, we run a private oral round—each bidder on a separate phone line to preserve anonymity and neighborly respect. Results have consistently landed 20–40 percent above county averages, a meaningful difference for owners on fixed incomes.
We also look ahead. With many baby boomer farmers retiring and heirs living out of state, managed acres are growing. Demand from operators remains strong, and our county-based waiting lists help match the right tenant to the right quarter quickly. Through shifting commodity prices and tighter margins, our approach stays steady: protect the land, maintain strong relationships, and make every decision visible and defensible.
If you own farmland or want to rent more acres, this conversation offers a clear playbook you can use today. Subscribe, share with a fellow landowner or operator, and leave a review to tell us what you want to hear next.
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