A 1988 nationwide survey of rural land transfers revealed that 4.6 percent of parcels and 3.5 percent of the acreage of rural land changed hands during 1987. Agricultural and nonagricultural parcels transferred were evenly divided, but 74 percent of the acreage was agricultural. Parcels of rural land are owned for an average of 22 years. Arms-length or market sales represented only 38 percent of rural land transferred.
