[romed]

Why would a farmer own a combine? Aren't they owned by specialized harvest outfits? I don't have any experience in the business but when I was a kid and we needed the hay cut and baled we called the guy who brought in the hay baler on a low-boy. Nobody owned their own.

[erichurkman]

Rent vs. Own comes down to controlling your own harvest: renting means you may miss out, sometimes by weeks, of optimal harvest. You may have had to book a harvest weeks or months in advance. You may have to fork over cash months in advance. You may have to pay even if a field's yield is ruined due to summer floods.

If you own, you can select even segments of fields to harvest at more optimal times (a down grade, or wetter, portion of a field may harvest differently than an uphill, drier portion).

It sucks either way.