News

Major transfer of U.S. farmland expected by 2019

A new USDA report says about 10-percent of all farmland in the U.S. will transfer ownership between now and 2019. The Economic Research Service (ERS) says around one-third of principal farm operators were at least 65 years old in 2014 and farmland owners planned to transfer 93-million acres over the next five years.

Over half of the transferred land is expected to be moved through trusts, wills and gifts while the rest of the land transferred through land sales.

The ERS Report also found nearly 40-percent of the 911-Million acres of farmland in the contiguous 48 States is rented. More than half of cropland is rented, compared with just over 25-percent of pastureland.

Rental activity was generally concentrated in grain production areas; cash grains such as rice, corn, soybeans, and wheat, and also cotton, are commonly grown in areas where more than 50-percent of farmland is rented.