For some investors, farmland has been shown to be an attractive asset. However, the role that investors play in the farmland market has become a topic of interest, particularly around land access, rural equity, food security, and adversary nations. This study uses detailed farmland transaction data, a hedonic matching framework for farmland transactions on state borders, and a descriptive analysis of state-level farmland ownership regulations to examine the degree to which ownership restrictions affect farmland sale price. We do not find evidence that ownership restrictions affect the expected value of farmland transactions. However, our results suggest that investors may play a role in prices across the conditional distribution. For example, Illinois farmland transactions seem to be driven by agricultural use value to a greater degree than transactions in Iowa and Indiana. The results have implications for farmers, farmland investors, farm real estate professionals, and policymakers.
