Halakhah for Bava Metzia 9:6

הַמְקַבֵּל שָׂדֶה מֵחֲבֵרוֹ וַאֲכָלָהּ חָגָב אוֹ נִשְׁדְּפָה, אִם מַכַּת מְדִינָה הִיא, מְנַכֶּה לוֹ מִן חֲכוֹרוֹ, אִם אֵינוֹ מַכַּת מְדִינָה, אֵינוֹ מְנַכֶּה לוֹ מִן חֲכוֹרוֹ. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, אִם קִבְּלָהּ הֵימֶנּוּ בְמָעוֹת, בֵּין כָּךְ וּבֵין כָּךְ אֵינוֹ מְנַכֶּה לוֹ מֵחֲכוֹרוֹ:

If one received a field from his neighbor [in rental — so many and so many korin], and it were eaten by locusts or blasted — If it were "a plague of the land" [i.e., if most of the fields of that land were locust-eaten or blasted], he deducts from his rental. If it were not "a plague of the land," he does not deduct from his rental, [for he (the owner) says to him: "It's your hard luck."] R. Yehudah says: If he received it from him for (payment in) money, in either event, [even if it were a plague of the land], he does not deduct, [for the "decree" did not go forth against money.]

Gray Matter IV

Two classic situations illustrate this principle. In the times of the Mishnah a classic clause in a sharecropper’s contract would be “im ovir v’lo a’avid ashaleim b’meitvah”: if I do not work the field, I will pay you generously (Bava Metzia 9:6). This means the sharecropper agrees to pay the landowner based on a high-end estimate of what the field would have produced had he worked the field. The Beit Meir (cited in Pitchei Teshuvah E.H. 50:9) explains that since the stipulated payment is only a small exaggeration it does not constitute asmachta. In such a situation we do not assume that the one making the agreement had no intention to fulfill it.

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