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.

Less than 5% of the owned farmland is expected to transition to others through sales or gifts, 10% is expected to be placed in trusts, while another 15% is expected to be written into wills in the next five years.

The survey was a special study conducted by the 2022 Census of Agriculture program. It included collecting data from landowners and landlords of agricultural land.

Non-operating landlords also were asked to report transition plans beyond a five-year horizon.

"Regardless of time frame, non-operating landlords plan to transition ownership (as a share of owned acres rented out) through wills (42%) and trusts (26%), or sell to a relative (2%), a non-relative (7%) or gift/donate (2%)," a report on the survey results said.

"Landlords may have indicated more than one method through which they intended to transfer land. Twenty percent of non-operating landlords indicated no plans for transitioning owned acres."

Only 23 million acres of land are expected to be sold to non-relatives, while 20 million acres are expected to be sold to relatives or given as a gift, according to the survey.

This means only a small percentage of farmland will be available for purchase.

Rented farmland acres combined with buildings on this land are valued at more than $1.6 trillion, according to the NASS survey. In 2024, landlords combined received $34.1 billion in rental income, which is 9% higher compared to 2014. Landowners also incurred about $12 billion in total operating expenses.

The survey also collected demographic information on the 1.8 million non-farming entities, also known as principal landlords. The average age of these landlords is 69.2 years old, according to the survey. That exceeds the age of the average farmer, who is 58.1 years old, according to the 2022 Census of Agriculture.

Just 12% of all principal landlords were under 55 years old while nearly 52% of all the principal landlords have never farmed.

The survey also asked respondents for information as to when they acquired land they rented.

Most landowners said their most recent acquisition came before 2014, with 72% saying they purchased land from a relative. Another 77% said they received land acquired prior to 2014 as a gift.

To access the complete 2024 survey results and other information, visit: https://www.nass.usda.gov/… or the quick stats database at http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/….

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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