Most U.S. Rented Farmland is Owned by Non-Farmers
A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report sheds light on who owns the nation’s farmland, and it shows most rented acres are controlled by non-farmers.
The findings come from the 2024 Tenure, Ownership and Transition of Agricultural Land (TOTAL) survey released by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
More than 2 million landowners rented out 348 million acres of farmland. Of these acres, USDA reported 79% are owned by non-farming landlords.
Non-operating landlords include entities who rent out agricultural land under a variety of ownership arrangements (privately owned, trust, family entity, non-family entity or other). Of the land rented out by non-operating landlords, over 251 million acres were rented out by private landowners, trusts or family entities.
According to the survey results, rented farmland acres, combined with buildings on this land, are valued at more than $1.6 trillion. In 2024, landlords combined received $34.1 billion in rental income while incurring $12 billion in total operating expenses.
“About 5% of the nearly 900 million U.S. farmland acres, or about 43 million acres, is slated for ownership transfer in the next five years, not including farmland that is in or is expected to be put into wills or trusts,” NASS Administrator Joseph Parsons said.
Only 23 million acres of land are expected to be sold to a non-relative, while 20 million acres are expected to be sold to a relative or given as a gift. This means that only a small percentage of farmland will be available for purchase.
The survey also provides a glimpse into demographic information for 1.8 million non-farming entities, also known as principal landlords.
According to the findings, the average age of these landlords is 69.2 years old. This age exceeds that of the average farmer, who is 58.1 years old, according to the 2022 Census of Agriculture. Only 12% of all principal landlords were under 55 years old. Nearly 52% of all the principal landlords have never farmed.
“As the only source of detailed information on agricultural land ownership characteristics and economic data, TOTAL provides important statistics to government, academia, the farming industry and others regarding agricultural land ownership for planning, policymaking, research and market analysis,” Parsons said.
