A group of farmers and investors is spearheading an effort to help no-tillers expand their operations.

Fall Line Farms (FLF) is offering to become capital partners for no-tillers who don’t have the resources to buy farmland — either because current prices are economically unfeasible or because they’re already highly leveraged but still need to grow.

The group says it will lease land to top no-tillers or buy land from owners who care about soil stewardship. The effort was made public during the 20th annual National No-Tillage Conference held in January.

The founding partners in FLF include:

• Clay Mitchell, a fifth-generation no-tiller from Iowa with deep knowledge of precision technology and productive no-till systems;
• Scott Day, a fifth-generation no-tiller from Manitoba and a professional agronomist;
• Laurence Trebesch, who comes from a fifth-generation farm, ranch and ag-finance family in Idaho and Montana
• Baptiste Tellier, a farm manager for an international farming and food company with farming experience in North and South America, Europe and Africa;
• Eric O’Brien, a former managing director for Lightspeed Venture Partners with 13 years of professional investment experience in the U.S. and internationally.

The group will consider prospects in any geographical area in the U.S. and may also offer advice on equipment, technology and agronomy to lessees.

It’s not clear how the lease contracts will work, but “flex leases make sense these days,” says Mitchell, who no-tills 2,500 acres of corn and soybeans in northeast Iowa.

The benefits of this arrangement, Mitchell says, is for no-tillers to grow…