Overall, I would say that instead of leasing, why don't you just develop your own farm instead? You don't have to be very handson in managing it. You just need to assign some sort of a farm manager and then he will take care of everything. This is by far much more lucrative as compared to just depending on the rent every month. You can also take advantage of high seasons because the amount that you would get from the land based on your crops will be much much higher.
Because most people don't want to put in the time and effort which would be required of their own farm, even if you do hire someone else to run it for you. And it'll cost quite a bit of money to hire such a person to do the entire running of the farm for you, if you can even find someone willing to.
Buying land then leasing it is definitely not great investment. Unless you intend to start a farm yourself then don't head that way. Cash paid for leased land isn't much [I know that from experience] and there's no % you'll get off farm produce. And then there's the issue of actually finding a leasee which isn't always that easy. IMO, it's a lot better to invest that money in other [business] ventures that guarantee returns.
I know a guy who does this. He owns a rural lot that's sort of on the outskirts of town. He leases it to a Hispanic family that grows strawberries and operate a stand down the road. The land is difficult to set up and lease, and he doesn't make much in leasing rights. But he makes his money back because he gets a cut of the sales from the stand.
