Information
Rulon Enterprises consists of five members – Ken, Roy, Rodney, Nick, and Neal – 
who currently farm over 6,000 acres. While a significant part of what we farm is family-owned, we also rent land from over 40 landowners. We work closely with each owner to meet his or her goals. We have over 30 different lease agreements, each modified to meet the specific needs of each farm.
FIVE BASIC OBJECTIVES FOR FARMS THAT WE MANAGE
- Maximize the landowner’s long-term net worth growth
- Reduce or eliminate erosion through our no-till / cover crop system
- Build the soil’s fertility and bio-life
- Maximize the landowner’s benefits by sharing our business strengths: lower input costs per bushel produced, higher yields per acre, and higher sale prices per bushel
- Operate the land in a sustainable way that increases soil carbon content
Our goal is to leave the land in a better condition than we found it.
CUSTOM RENTAL AGREEMENTS TO FIT LANDOWNER NEEDS
We use two primary agreement types:
Crop Profit Share
In 32 of the last 34 years, crop profit share leases produced superior returns versus cash rent leases.
Traditionally known as a crop share leases, our profit share leases are designed to maximize net returns to the owner. One of the key advantages of a profit share lease is our ability to share very high profits as they are earned. Cash rent leases always lag actual profits. In addition, we work closely with you and incorporate your input to help us achieve your goals.
We handle all management decisions for the owner, from buying inputs in bulk to managing the marketing of the crop. We meet at least twice a year to review our business plan for the landowner’s farm and assure that the landowner’s objectives are being met. All grain is stored until the calendar year following harvest to allow the landowner to benefit from our state of the art storage facility. This storage allows our landowners to avoid low harvest prices.
Cash Rent
As the name implies, the landowner receives a set amount each year. We negotiate this amount together, based on factors such as the land’s productivity and current grain and input prices. While cash rents have increased dramatically over the last few years, they have failed to keep up with the gains of our profit share leases. Rulon Enterprises is a leader in modifying traditional cash rent leases to provide a bonus payment to the landowner in the event of unexpected windfall profits. This creates a situation where the landowner and the operator earn a more equal share of the earnings over time.
SERVICES WE PROVIDE TO LANDOWNERS
Site-Specific Practices: Your farm will be managed aggressively using:
- A 100% no-till/never till production system
- Cover crops as is practical given varying weather conditions
- Custom drainage work
- 1-acre grid soil test performed in a four-year testing cycle
- All fertilizers and other nutrients variably applied based upon needs identified from the results of the soil tests
- All inputs managed to achieve Maximum Economic Yields for the farm
- All inputs managed to minimize the environmental impact of the farm
- All yields mapped and indexed for historical studies
- All drainage lines GPS-mapped as found or repaired
- All problem areas mapped to target corrective action, such as drainage, gypsum, lime, or tree management.
General Practices:
- All rocks picked up every year
- All fence rows mowed and sprayed as needed
- All trees trimmed to vertical line above fence
- All field obstacles removed
- Aggressive weed control
- All current drainage tiles maintained as needed
- Trash along roadsides picked up at least twice every year