As an engineer, I had this line of thought years ago that pricing things was a logical process. That you determined the selling price of a product or service by totaling up your costs, adding a reasonable margin to cover fixed and variable expenses and add 7 or 8% net profit and there is your selling price....

Wrong.

The selling price of any product or service is NOT determined by your costs or need to turn a profit, but IS determined by the competition and alternatives available to the buyer.

Without getting long winded here, in the most cases of farm land rental, the rental price is going to be determined by what other options are available to the landowner/landlord.

In most cases if someone is paying $300/a in the area, you are not going to get it for $200/a, regardless of what your own P&L "numbers" show.

The real value of "negotiations" is to be able to make a compelling case to the landlord of why it is in HIS best interest (not yours) to rent it to you for $250.  That you keep the ditches mowed and place looking good, that you use conservation methods that will conserve his soil more than other potential renters, that you will do a better job of maintaining fertility with less soil erosion...  Sell your services, which is what custom farming really is, on QUALITY not just max rent. Then actually provide that quality, soil conservation, fertility, mowing, etc as well as you can do it.

This doesn't always get you the land. There are some landlords who are interested in the top dollar only and nothing else.  In that situation you are likely better off not butting heads with the $300 guy and likely losing money and pass on it.  Leave your business card with a smile and a handshake and hopefully in a couple years the guy will be calling you back to see if your offer still stands.

I'll leave it at that. 

Jim