Communication with landlords will be particularly important for Iowa farmers in the coming months as the agriculture ec­­onomy begins to downshift in­­to a period of narrower margins, said Kelvin Leibold, a farm management specialist at Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach.

Lower corn and soybean prices, combined with the rising input costs for the past several years, are starting to "shrink the size of the pie" for both...