---
title: "Share farming agreement (cropping or grazing)"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/agribusiness-and-rural-law/share-farming-agreement"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a38-share-farming-agreement"
area_id: "A38"
kind: "agreement"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-18"
---

# Share farming agreement (cropping or grazing)

> A written share farming agreement between a landowner and a share farmer: the land and exclusions, who supplies what, shares of income and costs, accounts, condition records, improvements, termination and disputes.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/agribusiness-and-rural-law/share-farming-agreement  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-18

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

- Kind: Agreement. A contract between two or more parties.
- Practice area: [Agribusiness & Rural Law](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/agribusiness-and-rural-law.md)
- Jurisdictions: Australia, New South Wales
- AI level: Yellow. AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-18
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-18 against the 4 authorities it cites, for Australia and New South Wales.

## When to use it

Use when a landowner and a share farmer agree to share the costs, risks and produce of a cropping or grazing operation instead of a lease. In NSW a sharefarming arrangement is a tenancy under the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1990, so its implied terms apply and cannot be contracted out of.

## How AI may be used

AI may fill the agreement from the parties' agreed term sheet and budget and list terms still to be settled; the lawyer checks the shares, the risk allocation and the Act's implied terms before it is signed.

**AI may:**

- Populate the schedule from the agreed term sheet, paddock maps and budget
- List checklist items from the GRDC table that the term sheet does not yet cover
- Cross-check lot and DP numbers, areas and water licence numbers against the title and register searches

**AI must not:**

- Must not set or suggest the income and cost shares, which are a commercial decision for the parties on their own budgets
- Must not draft terms that waive the tenant's rights under the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1990 (NSW), which are void to that extent
- Must not treat the arrangement as employment or a partnership without the lawyer deciding that question

**The lawyer checks:**

- The arrangement is genuinely a share farming arrangement and not a lease, employment or partnership, and tax and primary producer status advice has been obtained
- Shares of income and of each cost category match the parties' agreement and the budget, and who owns the crop or stock at each stage is clear
- Termination and notice terms are consistent with s 14 of the Act, including the crop-growing notice rule
- Inclusions and exclusions (water, machinery, buildings, residence) and the condition record at the start are complete

## Authorities

- [Agricultural Tenancies Act 1990 (NSW) s 4 (tenancy includes a sharefarming arrangement; tenant includes a sharefarmer; farm of at least 1 hectare)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1990-064)
- [Agricultural Tenancies Act 1990 (NSW) ss 5, 12, 13 and 14(3)(a) (written agreement, condition records, accounts, notice ending a periodic sharefarming arrangement for crop growing)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1990-064)
- [Agricultural Tenancies Act 1990 (NSW) s 27 (contracting out void)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1990-064)
- [GRDC, Leasing and share farming land fact sheet (February 2025), Table 4 checklist for leasing and share farming agreements](https://grdc.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0029/618806/leasing-and-share-farming-land-grdc-20250221.pdf)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/agribusiness-and-rural-law/share-farming-agreement and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*