US Farmland Landlords Aren’t Farmers

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) — The vast majority of over two million landowners who rented out 347.8 million acres of agricultural land in 2024 were non-farming landlords, according to the latest USDA survey data, while the amount of land rent collected has increased since 2014.

The 2024 Tenure, Ownership and Transition of Agricultural Land survey results released by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, showed 79% of the acres are owned by non-farming landlords.

Non-operating landlords include entities who rent out agricultural land under a variety of ownership arrangements including 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.

What’s more, about 5% of the nearly 900 million U.S. farmland acres, or about 43 million acres, is expected to transfer ownership in the next five years. That doesn’t include farmland that is in or is expected to be put into wills or trusts.