Core feature
What Is Your Land Really Earning?
Most debates ignore the most important question: what does your land actually make today? This calculator compares real farm income against wind and solar lease income using realistic Michigan defaults you can override.
Your inputs
Selecting a county fills in regional yield and rent averages.
Solar
Wind
1 · Current farm income
Gross / acre
$810
Net profit / acre
$110
Total farm profit
$11,000
Acres
100
2 · Solar income vs farm
Solar income / yr
$100,000
Farm profit / yr
$11,000
Difference
$89,000
Farm$11,000
Solar$100,000
3 · Wind income vs lost farm acres
Wind gross / yr
$29,000
Lost farm profit
$220
Wind net / yr
$28,780
Affected acres
2
4 · 30-year cumulative (escalator 2%)
Farm total
$330,000
Solar total
$4,056,808
Wind total
$1,169,874
5 · Break-even vs solar
For your farm income to match the solar lease, your crop would need to reach one of these:
Break-even price
$9.44/bu
Break-even yield
377.8 bu/ac
This is a planning tool, not financial advice. Real lease terms, yields, and prices vary. Always have a qualified attorney review any contract before signing.
Assumptions & how to read these results
Every default below is a typical Michigan starting point — not a quote. Override any field with your own contract or county data for a more accurate comparison.
| Input | Default | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| County | Statewide average | Selecting a county fills in regional averages for crop yield and cash rent from USDA NASS. Use it as a starting point — your farm may differ. |
| Crop | Corn | Switches yield, price, and direct-cost defaults to typical Michigan corn or soybean values. Override any field if your operation differs. |
| Acres farmed | 100 | Total acres included in the comparison. All per-acre figures are multiplied by this number to produce farm-level totals. |
| Yield (bu/ac) | Corn 180 · Soybeans 55 | Typical Michigan yields. County selection adjusts these. Yields vary year-to-year with weather and inputs. |
| Price ($/bu) | Corn $4.50 · Soybeans $11.50 | Approximate recent Michigan cash prices. Markets move daily — use your local elevator's bid for the most accurate result. |
| Direct cost ($/ac) | Corn $700 · Soybeans $430 | Seed, fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, and machinery operating costs per acre. Excludes land cost (handled separately by tenure) and overhead. |
| Land tenure | Own | If you own the land, no cash rent is subtracted. If you rent, cash rent reduces net profit per acre. |
| Cash rent ($/ac) | $152 (statewide average) | USDA NASS Michigan average cash rent for cropland. County selection adjusts this. Only applied when tenure is set to Rent. |
| Solar lease ($/ac/yr) | $1,000 | Mid-range Michigan solar lease offer. Real offers commonly range from $700 to $1,500/acre/year and depend on grid access, project size, and timing. |
| Wind: per turbine ($/yr) | $29,000 | Typical annual royalty per turbine in Michigan. Real contracts vary from roughly $20,000 to $30,000+ depending on turbine size and developer. |
| # of turbines | 1 | Number of turbines actually sited on your land. A property may host zero, one, or several depending on layout and setbacks. |
| Acres affected | 2 | Acres taken out of crop production by turbine pads, access roads, and infrastructure. The rest of the land typically continues to be farmed. |
| Annual escalator (%) | 2% | Annual percentage increase in lease payments written into most contracts. Used to project future-year income. |
| Contract years | 30 | Typical lease term length. Used to calculate lifetime contract value and project income over the full term. |
See the Sources page for the public data behind these defaults. This is a planning tool, not financial or legal advice.