Farming    Sellers   

How to develop agricultural land?

Published at July 22, 2024 by Bernard Charlotin
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How to develop agricultural land?

You have unoccupied agricultural land. You have no income from it, and you have to pay ever-increasing property taxes every year. From renting to reselling to energy production, we present you with different solutions to make your agricultural land profitable.

Summary : 
1. Renting agricultural land to a farmer
     1.1. The basic status: the rural lease
     1.2. Long-term leases
     1.3. Exceptions to the status of rural leases
2. Become a farmer to farm your land
3. Turn your farmland into a recreational area or garden
4. Renting a building on your farmland
5. Setting up an electricity generation facility on your land
6. Selling the agricultural land
7. Transforming your agricultural land into building land
     7.1. Building on agricultural land
     7.2. Modifying the PLU

Renting agricultural land to a farmer

The basic status: the rural lease

You can rent your land to a farmer. Note that, except for leases of small plots, if you wish to receive an income from the land, you will be subject to the status of a rural lease (also known as a farm lease), a rental contract that is highly regulated by law.

In our blog you will find a series of articles on rural leases. Here are some important principles to remember:

  • The rural lease has a minimum duration of 9 years (whether the lease is written or verbal)
  • The farmer (also called lessee, tenant) has a right of renewal (for a further 9 years) at the end of the initial lease and its renewals
  • The farmer can transfer his rural lease to his spouse and descendants
  • The lessor's wish to sell does not terminate the lease
  • The amount of the rent is governed by minimum and maximum amounts determined by prefectoral decrees

It is therefore a very protective contract for the farmer and leaves little freedom to the lessor. Note that clauses in the lease that are contrary to these points are considered null and void even if they reflect the will of both parties.

It should also be noted that the annual rental amount varies both according to the quality of the land and the type of activity carried out on the plots. The plots are classified according to their quality between grassland, ploughing and scoring criteria. The rent will be different depending on whether the plots are used for mixed farming, market gardening, fruit growing, vineyards, etc.

Long-term leases

You can also sign leases for a longer period of time that offer tax advantages. If you rent your land through a long-term lease (more than 18 years), the value of your farmland benefits from a 75% allowance up to €300,000 and 50% above for the calculation of inheritance, gift and IFI taxes.

These leases also generally allow you to increase the amount of rent (the increase varies according to each prefectural decree).

There are several types of leases:

  • Long-term lease: minimum term of 18 years. The above conditions relating to renewal and the right of assignment also apply.
  • Transferable lease: minimum term of 18 years. The farmer may assign his lease to anyone he wishes. In return, the rent can be increased by 50%.
  • Career lease: lease with a minimum duration of 25 years and ending at the lessee's retirement age without possibility of renewal.
  • 25-year lease (also known as a long-notice lease): it may include a tacit renewal clause. The owner can then oppose the renewal of the lease at the end of the 25 years by a bailiff's notice served 4 years before the end of the lease.

Exceptions to the status of rural leases

Small plot leases

Below a certain surface area (determined by each prefectural decree) a lease on an agricultural property may escape the status of rural leases.

The surface area threshold is, for example

  • In Finistère (29): 1ha for meadows and crops, 0.50ha for market gardening and fruit and 0.25ha for horticulture
  • In Cantal (15): 1.50ha for land and pasture, 0.40ha for fruit and vines and 0.30ha for market gardening, horticulture and nurseries
  • In Pas-de-Calais (62): 0.50ha for crops, 0.20ha for market gardening and horticulture
  • In Isère (38): 0.45ha for mixed farming, 0.25ha for market gardening and vineyards

In this case, there is complete freedom between the farmer and his lessor to determine the amount of the lease, the duration, the conditions for renewal or termination, etc.

The precarious occupation agreement

There are 3 other special situations that allow you to rent a piece of land without falling under the status of a farm:

  • Judicial succession in progress: ongoing judicial division of an undivided estate
  • Grace period: period of time allowed to a farmer to remain temporarily in the premises after the expiry or termination of a lease
  • Change of agricultural destination: to allow the temporary exploitation of a property whose agricultural destination is to be changed

The SAFER provision agreement

Finally, the SAFER can conclude agreements between a landowner and a tenant under conditions different from a rural lease (duration of 1 to 6 years, renewable once) pending a subsequent sale or rural lease.

The commodat lease (or loan for use)

The commodat lease is a free lease, generally of short duration, concluded between a landowner and a tenant.

If you do not want to be covered by the statute of farming and cannot benefit from the exceptions, you can grant a free lease to your farmer, which allows you to have your land maintained without the disadvantages of a rural lease. You can, for example, grant this contract for a period of 1 year.

Become a farmer to farm your land

You can farm the land yourself and become a farmer. It is not necessary to have an agricultural diploma to be a farmer and it is perfectly possible to be a pluriactive farmer, i.e. in addition to another activity.

You will have to register with the Centre des Formalité des Entreprises (CFE) of the Chamber of Agriculture in your department. You may have to pay social security contributions to the MSA, depending on your activity, and you may have to obtain prior authorisation to operate under the Control of Structures.

You can call on agricultural work companies or CUMAs (cooperatives for the use of agricultural equipment) to carry out the work on the crops and call on service providers for the administrative formalities (income declaration, CAP declaration, etc.).

Unlike renting, the income from the use of your land will not be guaranteed because it will depend on production conditions, prices and the expenses you incur.

Turn your farmland into a recreational area or garden

You can use your agricultural land for your own personal use by using it as a recreational area.

A recreational land does not correspond to any legal definition under town planning and it is the use you make of it that gives it the qualification of recreational land.

You can create your vegetable garden or pleasure garden, or install a "light leisure dwelling" for a few weeks or months. The creation of a water feature is also possible but requires authorisations that can be difficult to obtain.

Renting a building on your farmland

If you have a building on your land for agricultural use, you may consider renting it:

  • Either to a farmer (your tenancy will fall under the rural leases as studied above).
  • Or to other professionals or individuals.

It is indeed possible to rent a farm building for a commercial activity or for private individuals.

Companies such as Mon Hangar make it possible to rent out old farm buildings or storage areas to private individuals for the storage of caravans, motor homes, boats, etc. or to transport companies, construction companies, etc. This is a very interesting way of supplementing income.

It should be noted that agricultural buildings are exempt from property tax. Changing the use of these buildings means that they lose the benefit of this exemption, which can represent a significant annual cost.

Setting up an electricity generation facility on your landWind field

In the agricultural zone, installations and constructions of collective interest, necessary for public service, can be authorised. This is particularly the case for the installation of wind turbines and solar power plants, as the production of non-polluting energy is a matter of public interest.

However, you will need to check the local PLU rules and put together a feasible project. The construction of wind turbines is nowadays highly regulated and ground-based photovoltaic installations are not always accepted by the neighbourhood, especially if they are built on agricultural land.

You should therefore contact professionals and present your project to the town planning department of your municipality.

Selling the agricultural land

Even if the number of farmers is decreasing, the demand for land is globally strong in France, which has notably allowed the value of land to double over the last 30 years.

Despite this increase, the value of agricultural land is far from that of land suitable for building. Prices vary greatly from one region to another and depend on local pressure, the quality of the land, its destination and the planting it can support.

You will find a presentation in our blog:

  • Free farmland prices in each region
  • Prices of rented agricultural land in each region
  • Vineyard prices in each vineyard

Please note: If your land is rented under a rural lease, your property will most likely be discounted as opposed to a freehold property.

Transforming your agricultural land into building land

Building on agricultural land

The construction of a dwelling house on agricultural land is reserved, under certain conditions only, for farmers.

You must therefore either become a farmer and meet the necessary conditions, or change the use of your land.

Modifying the PLU

Changing the use of agricultural land into building land is generally synonymous with a jackpot: the value of the property is multiplied by 10 or 20 or even much more. But it is not an easy process and above all it does not depend on you.

It is in fact the Local Urban Plan (PLU) or another urban planning document that determines whether a plot of land can be built on by classifying it as a U (Urban) or AU (Urbanised) zone. The classifications are regularly reviewed, but there is a strong trend towards the sanctuarisation of agricultural land. Between 2010 and 2020, 55,000 hectares of agricultural land were urbanised each year.

It is therefore worthwhile to contact the town planning department of your municipality to find out where the current building zones are and whether your land could benefit from a future change of use.

If your land becomes buildable, you can either build it yourself or sell it. Building will require servicing work to connect the property to the distribution networks (water, gas, electricity, etc.) and sanitation, which are very costly.

Good to know:  If your agricultural land was leased to a farmer, the change of use of your plot of land allows you to end the rural lease. However, you will be liable to pay compensation to your farmer for the loss of gross margin.