Trends in U.S. Farmland Values and Ownership

Farm real estate (land and structures) is the major asset on the farm sector balance sheet, accounting for 84 percent of the total value of U.S. farm assets in 2009. Because of this, changes in agricultural land values are a critical barometer of farm sector performance and the fi nancial well-being of agricultural producers. These changes also have implications for a wide range of policy issues, including agricultural competitiveness, industry structure, commodity programs, conservation payments, farmland protection, and local property taxes. In addition to being the largest single investment in a typical farmer’s portfolio, farm real estate is the principal source of collateral for farm loans, enabling farm operators to purchase additional farmland and equipment or to fi nance current operating expenses and meet household needs.

[1]  Allen M. Featherstone,et al.  An Examination of Farm Sector Real Asset Dynamics: 1910–85 , 1987 .

[2]  K. Wiebe,et al.  Land Tenure and the Adoption of Conservation Practices , 2000 .

[3]  A. Plantinga,et al.  The Effects of Potential Land Development on Agricultural Land Prices , 2002 .

[4]  T. Phipps,et al.  Agricultural Land Values under Urbanizing Influences , 1997 .

[5]  John T. Scott,et al.  The Inconsistency of Land Values, Land Rents, and Capitalization Formulas , 1993 .

[6]  E. Irwin,et al.  What are Farmland Amenities Worth ? , 2003 .

[7]  A. Tegene,et al.  Farmland Protection: The Role of Public Preferences for Rural Amenities , 2002 .

[8]  C. Moss,et al.  Farmland valuation and asset performance , 2005 .

[9]  E. Melichar.  A financial perspective on agriculture , 1984 .

[10]  L. Danielson,et al.  An Hedonic Study Of The Effects Of Erosion Control And Drainage On Farmland Values , 1989 .

[11]  L. Latruffe,et al.  Capitalization of Government Support in Agricultural Land Prices: What Do We Know? , 2009 .

[12]  C. Shumway,et al.  A POOLED TIME-SERIES CROSS-SECTION ANALYSIS OF LAND PRICES , 1982 .

[13]  S. Irwin,et al.  Returns to Farm Real Estate Revisited , 1988 .

[14]  C. Moss,et al.  Disaggregating Farmland Markets , 2008 .

[15]  A. Mishra,et al.  Explaining Regional Differences in the Capitalization of Policy Benefits into Agricultural Land Values , 2008 .

[16]  B. Falk.  Testing the Present Value Model of Farmland Prices , 1991 .

[17]  R. Just,et al.  The Economics and Politics of Farmland Values , 2008 .

[18]  Alban Thomas,et al.  A Dynamic Analysis of Land Prices , 1999 .

[19]  C. Moss,et al.  Farmland Markets: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Issues , 2008 .

[20]  R. Chambers.  The incidence of agricultural policies , 1995 .

[21]  J. Geoghegan,et al.  Are Farmland Preservation Program Easement Restrictions Capitalized into Farmland Prices? What Can a Propensity Score Matching Analysis Tell Us? * , 2007 .

[22]  D. Chicoine.  Farmland Values at the Urban Fringe: An Analysis of Sale Prices , 1981 .

[23]  D. Hellerstein,et al.  Protecting Rural Amenities Through Farmland Preservation Programs , 2003, Agricultural and Resource Economics Review.

[24]  D. McGranahan,et al.  Natural Amenities Drive Rural Population Change , 2012 .

[25]  M. Ahearn,et al.  Evidence of Capitalization of Direct Government Payments into U.S. Cropland Values , 1997 .

[26]  R. Nehring,et al.  Urban Sprawl and Farmland Prices , 2006 .

[27]  R. Myers,et al.  Social Capital and the Terms of Trade for Farmland , 2002 .

[28]  W. Patrick Beaton,et al.  The Impact of Regional Land-Use Controls on Property Values: The Case of the New Jersey Pinelands , 1991 .

[29]  K. McNew,et al.  Measuring the Impact of Ethanol Plants on Local Grain Prices , 2005 .

[30]  Dennis Wichelns,et al.  Using Referendum Data to Characterize Public Support for Purchasing Development Rights to Farmland , 1994 .

[31]  Brent A. Gloy,et al.  The Impact of Ethanol Plants on Land Values in the Great Plains , 2009 .

[32]  A. Somwaru,et al.  Do direct payments have intertemporal effects on U.S. agriculture , 2002 .

[33]  H. E. Conklin,et al.  Farm-Value Assessment as a Means for Reducing Premature and Excessive Agricultural Disinvestment in Urban Fringes , 1977 .

[34]  G. Wunderlich.  Land Taxes in Agriculture: Preferential Rate and Assessment Effects , 1997 .

[35]  P. Barry.  Capital Asset Pricing and Farm Real Estate , 1980 .

[36]  William A. Reiners,et al.  Environmental amenities and agricultural land values: a hedonic model using geographic information systems data , 2002 .

[37]  E. Irwin,et al.  Rural Amenities and Farmland Values , 2008 .

[38]  S. Taff,et al.  Implicit Prices of Wetland Easements in Areas of Production Agriculture , 2004, Land Economics.

[39]  Indiana Farmland Values and Cash Rents Jump Upward , 2005 .

[40]  W. Peterson.  Land Quality And Prices , 1986 .

[41]  Tulika Narayan,et al.  The Joint Influence of Agricultural and Nonfarm Factors on Real Estate Values: An Application to the Mid‐Atlantic Region , 2001 .

[42]  B. Barnett.  The U.S. Farm Financial Crisis of the 1980s , 2000, Agricultural History.

[43]  F. White,et al.  Equilibrium of Land Values from Agricultural and General Economic Factors for Cropland and Pasture Capitalization in Georgia , 2004 .

[44]  C. Pope.  Agricultural Productive and Consumptive Use Components of Rural Land Values in Texas , 1985 .

[45]  M. Gómez,et al.  Factors Influencing Illinois Farmland Values , 2006 .

[46]  R. Barrows,et al.  Capitalization of Exclusive Agricultural Zoning into Farmland Prices , 1990 .

[47]  Feng Xu,et al.  Measuring the Contributions of Site Characteristics to the Value of Agricultural Land , 1993 .

[48]  L. Lynch,et al.  The Effect of Farmland Preservation Programs on Farmland Prices , 2001 .

[49]  M. Drabenstott.  Do farm payments promote rural economic growth , 2005 .

[50]  A. Mishra,et al.  The Buck Stops Where? The Distribution of Agricultural Subsidies , 2011 .

[51]  C. Moss,et al.  Government Policy and Farmland Markets: The Maintenance of Farmer Wealth , 2003 .

[52]  R. Hoppe,et al.  Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms: 2005 Family Farm Report , 2006 .

[53]  J. Alston.  An Analysis of Growth of U.S. Farmland Prices, 1963–82 , 1986 .

[54]  Jason Henderson,et al.  The Capitalization of Wildlife Recreation Income into Farmland Values , 2006, Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics.

[55]  Jason R. Henderson,et al.  A resurgent rural economy spurs farmland values , 2005 .

[56]  A. Schmitz,et al.  Farmland Accumulation and Prices , 1982 .

[57]  A. Adelaja,et al.  The impact of down‐zoning on land values: A theoretical approach , 2009 .

[58]  P. J. Parks,et al.  Preserving Agricultural Land with Farmland Assessment: New Jersey as a Case Study , 1996, Agricultural and Resource Economics Review.

[59]  J. Herriges,et al.  The measurement of environmental and resource values : theory and methods , 2014 .

[60]  J. Kline,et al.  Public Preferences Regarding the Goals of Farmland Preservation Programs , 1996 .

[61]  O. R. Burt.  Econometric Modeling of the Capitalization Formula for Farmland Prices , 1986 .