Alfalfa won't do very well on a sand plot. "Hay" needs water to be productive, just like any other normal farming crop. Some good things said about keeping the renter, at least for a year or 2. Not real sure about the A,B,C classifications, don't have those here in MN, at least to my knowledge. With an 87 bu/ac corn base for your area (NE IL i assume by your ID), I would have to say your land isn't top notch, but isnt garbage land either. One tip of dealing with a renter, get a good soil sampling of the land done, and have the contract drawn up that fertility is maintained. I used to do independent soil sampling as a profession. What I found in some cases, the renter was relying on ground reserves to keep his bottom dollar up at the land owners expense. Sampling should be done at or around the end of July for a true test of fertility available sans the amount put down in that particular year. And before anyone says it can't be done because of the crop planted, what they are truly saying is they don't want to go out an walk the field to obtain them. It can be done easily, I use to do it all the time without GPS. Hit my email link if anyone wants to know further on the tip to do a corn field when it's 7' tall. Just put in the subject line "Soil Sampling" so I can distinguish it as legit vs spam mail.
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