Farm lease termination deadlines in MN, WI and IA

Farm lease deadlines differ in each state. In Iowa, written notice must be served by September 1 to end a farm tenancy the following March 1. In Wisconsin, a year-to-year agricultural tenancy needs at least 90 days' written notice, ending at the end of a rental period. Minnesota's statute sets no September 1 date at all.

That last point trips people up. September 1 is Iowa's date, and it gets repeated for Minnesota on farm forums. The Minnesota statute works differently. This guide lays out the three rules, how they shape the timing of a sale, and what to ask the seller. It isn't legal advice: a lease termination on a specific farm is a question for the landowner's attorney.

The deadlines, side by side

Read the lease first, but don't assume an end date settles it. In Wisconsin, a lease with a defined term ends at the end of that term unless it says otherwise. In Iowa, a farm tenancy continues past the agreed term for another crop year unless notice is served by September 1, written lease or not.

Iowa: the September 1 deadline

Iowa's rule has the firmest date of the three. Under Iowa Code 562.6 (2026), a farm tenancy "shall continue beyond the agreed term for the following crop year" on the same terms unless written notice of termination is served as section 562.7 requires. With proper notice, the tenancy ends on March 1.

Iowa Code 562.7 (2026) allows three ways to serve that notice:

1. Delivery on or before September 1, with acceptance of service signed by the party.
2. Personal service on or before September 1, or publication if personal service was tried and failed.
3. Certified mail sent before September 1. Note the wording: certified mail must go out before September 1, not on it.

Regular mail isn't on the list. If the notice is late or served the wrong way, the tenant farms the ground another year.

The statute's exceptions, as Iowa State's Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation summarizes them (CALT, Aug. 30, 2024):

• A separate written agreement to terminate, signed after the lease (a termination clause inside the lease itself doesn't replace the notice)
• A farm tenancy of less than 40 acres where an animal feeding operation is the primary use
• Mere croppers
• A tenant in default under the rental agreement, per 562.6

If the ground carries a hunting lease instead of a farm lease, ask an Iowa attorney how that lease ends. The September 1 statute speaks to farm tenancies.

Wisconsin: 90 days for agricultural tenancies

Wis. Stat. 704.19 (2025) covers periodic tenancies, including year-to-year, and tenancies at will. The general rule is 28 days' notice, but "all agricultural tenancies from year-to-year require at least 90 days' notice."

Three more details from the statute:

• Only at the end of a rental period. "A periodic tenancy can be terminated by notice under this section only at the end of a rental period." Ninety days before the wrong date doesn't work.
• In writing. The notice "must be in writing, formal or informal," and must tell the other party of the intent to terminate and the termination date.
• Fixed-term leases end on their own. UW-Madison Extension notes that "a lease with a defined term ends at the end of the term unless otherwise stated in the lease" (Kelly T. Wilfert, UW-Madison Extension, undated).

The same Extension article covers crops. Matured crops ready to harvest are the tenant's personal property. Growing crops that can't be removed "may be considered part of the real estate." If a sale closes in the growing season, the purchase agreement and the lease need to say who owns what's in the field.

Minnesota: no September 1 date in statute

Minnesota's landlord and tenant chapter, 504B, sets no September 1 farm lease deadline. The section that speaks to an open-ended tenancy is Minn. Stat. 504B.135 (2025): "A tenancy at will may be terminated by either party by giving notice in writing. The time of the notice must be at least as long as the interval between the time rent is due or three months, whichever is less."

A University of Minnesota Extension publication reads Minnesota law as allowing a year-to-year tenancy to be ended with three months' written notice, and only 14 days' written notice when the tenant fails to pay rent (Kunkel and Larison, Farm Leases, FS-2593, 1998). That publication is from 1998. Treat it as background and have a Minnesota attorney confirm how the current statute applies to the specific lease.

Ask whether a written lease exists and what it says about ending the tenancy.

Does selling the land end the lease?

Don't assume it does. Iowa's statute lets notice be served on "a successor of the party," which signals that a tenancy can outlast a change of owner. Plan on the buyer taking the ground subject to the tenant until the tenancy is ended properly, and get the lease reviewed by an attorney before you list.

Possession changes the buyer pool. Farm Progress quoted Elizabeth Strom, a farm manager and broker with Murray Wise Associates: "Farmland without a lease will always sell better because farmers want to farm what they buy" (Farm Progress, Sept. 10, 2024). A hunting buyer may not care about the tenant. An operator who wants to plant next spring will.

How to time a sale around a tenant

Work backward from when the buyer needs possession:

• Iowa. For a buyer to farm the ground in the 2027 crop year, the landowner's notice had to be served by September 1, 2026. Miss it, and the earliest end is March 1, 2028, unless the tenant signs a separate written termination agreement or another exception applies.
• Wisconsin. Find the end of the rental period in the lease, then count back at least 90 days for written notice.
• Minnesota. Read the lease. If there is no written term, get an attorney's answer on notice before promising a buyer spring possession.

For heirs selling ground with a longtime tenant, the lease conversation often matters more than the price. See listing inherited farmland and hunting land. If the sellers are weighing a sale date, land auction or listing covers how timing fits each method.

What to ask the seller at listing

• Is there a written lease? What are its start and end dates?
• If there's no written lease, how long has the tenant farmed it, and when is rent due?
• Has anyone served a termination notice, when, and how?
• Is there a hunting lease or other lease on the same ground?
• Who owns the crop in the field on the closing date?

Leases are one item on the land sale due diligence checklist. More closing guides are under closing deals.

If a buyer will want possession next spring, check the lease the day you take the listing, then send the seller to their attorney for the notice.