(SPRINGFIELD) More than 2 million landowners rented out 348 million acres of farmland nationwide in 2024, that’s according to the Tenure, Ownership, and Transition Agricultural Land (TOTAL) survey released last week by the USDA. And of those acres rented out, 79% are owned by non-farming landlords and 52%, have never farmed. The average age of these landlords is 69 years & only 12% of all principal landlords are under 55 years old. The TOTAL survey also found about 5% of the nearly 900 million U.S. farmland acres, about 43 million, are slated for ownership transfer in the next five years, not including land in wills and/or trusts.
