Owning Farmland in the United States: Agricultural Economics and Land Ownership Survey

U.S. farmland is held by fewer owners now than at any other time in this century. Nearly half of all U.S. farmland is held by about 4 percent of all farmland owners. Over 40 percent of the 833 million acres of private farmland is held by owners or organizations who do not themselves operate farms. Increases in the ratio of owners to operators, currently about three to two, imply a larger percentage of landowners who are less involved in farm operating and marketing decisions, a spreading of risk between farmers and landlords, and greater concentration of agricultural production in fewer farm managers.