Landowner Information

Almost always, yes. Crop damage is normally paid separately from the easement payment. The easement payment buys the right to use the land. Crop damage pays for what actually gets destroyed during construction and during later maintenance visits.

The usual formula is lost yield times commodity price times affected acres, sometimes with something added for compaction or lower yields in the seasons after. Ask for the formula in writing before you sign. Make sure the agreement covers damage from later maintenance and repair visits, not just the initial build.

Document everything: photograph the field before work starts, keep your yield records, and note the dates crews were on your property.

Read the document as a permanent one, because most easements run with the land and bind future owners. The terms worth the most attention:

• The width and location, in specific numbers rather than vague language.
• What the company can install. One line, or more lines later?
• How deep it will be buried, and whether that works with your tillage and drainage.
• Which roads and entrances they can use, and whether you get notice first.
• Damage terms for crops, tile, fences, roads, and timber, including future visits.
• Restoration standards and how topsoil gets handled.
• Whether the easement can be sold to another company.
• What happens if the line is retired.
• Who is responsible if someone is injured or the line leaks.

It should, and this is one of the most common problems with a first draft. Ohio State University Extension says an easement should state its width “in specific terms rather than in general terms such as ‘a width as is necessary to support a pipeline.’”

Insist on a stated width and a stated acreage, tied to a survey or exhibit map attached to the agreement. Open-ended language lets the working area grow, and you are normally paid on the acreage described in the document.

Ask separately about the temporary construction easement. That is the extra working room used only during the build. It is usually wider than the permanent easement, it should be paid for separately, and it should expire when construction is finished.

The permanent easement is the strip the company keeps rights to for the life of the facility. The temporary construction easement is extra land used only while crews are building, for equipment, spoil piles, and topsoil storage.

When construction ends, the temporary easement should terminate and the company's rights should shrink back to the permanent width. Both should be described and paid for separately in the agreement.

Yes, and we say that knowing we sit on the other side of the table. An easement is permanent, the first document you are handed is a draft, and the terms are negotiable. An attorney who works on farm or real property matters will catch the clauses that matter thirty years from now.

Ohio State University Extension puts it plainly: “The assistance of a knowledgeable attorney throughout this easement negotiation process can be invaluable and well worth the investment.”

It is also worth asking a tax professional how the payment will be treated, because easement proceeds, damage payments, and rent are not all taxed the same way.

Usually yes, for ordinary agricultural use. Most easements let you keep cropping or grazing the strip. What is typically restricted is anything permanent over the line: buildings, deep-rooted trees, ponds, and grade changes.

If you have plans for that ground, such as a building site, an access lane, tile work, fencing, or irrigation, bring it up during negotiation rather than after. Those uses can often be written into the agreement.

They should be repaired or paid for, and the agreement should say so. Pay close attention to drainage tile around here. Ask who does the repair, who inspects it, what the standard is, and what happens if it fails a season or two later.

The same applies to field entrances, lanes, fences, and any road your crews use to reach the site.

Not on the spot, and not on the timeline the first letter suggests. You are entitled to take the document away, read it, and get advice before deciding anything.

Whether a project can use eminent domain depends on the type of project and the law in your state, and it varies a lot. Ask your own attorney about that, not the land agent across the table. What we can tell you is that most of the agreements we work on get settled by negotiation, and landowners who ask careful questions usually end up with a better document.

Call us. If you have received a letter or a call from Prairie Land Solutions, you can reach us at 818-298-1840 or info@prairielandsolutions.com, and we will tell you what project it concerns, what is being asked of you, and who the client is. There is no obligation attached to asking.