5.76 Several alternatives to the creation of a full tenancy are commonly used – principally share farming contracts and partnerships.

There may be sound business or tax reasons for using share farming or partnership arrangements instead of a farm business tenancy in many situations. Prior to 1 September 1995, however, such arrangements had the added significance of avoiding the creation of a full tenancy with statutory security of tenure under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986. In the context of the 1986 Act, they exploited the common law requirement that a license to occupy agricultural land must, if it is to be statutorily converted into a protected tenancy, have conferred on the grantee exclusive possession of the land concerned (the principle in Harrison-Broadley v Smith¹⁷⁸ and Bahamas International Trust Co Ltd v Threadgold).¹⁷⁹