Who Will Farm the Land?

By Curt Arens

Agriculture

In the next 10 to 15 years, a tremendous transfer of farm wealth will take place.

I attended a landowner/tenant workshop recently, and had a difficult time finding a place to sit. The room was packed beyond capacity. The Extension educator facilitating the meeting told the group that he had hosted meetings like that over the past three or four years, but only two or three people would show up.

What a difference a year makes? Rising land prices, skyrocketing commodity prices, higher property taxes and more complexity in the crop input packages and highly competitive land rental markets have contributed to the increase in interest from farmers and landowners about their farmland.

With the average age of Nebraska farmers somewhere between 58 and 59 years, and a little older in some parts of the state, the supply of land for sale or rent is very tight right now, but it may loosen as these “average-aged” farmers look to transfer land to a new generation over the next two decades or so.

I wonder what that new generation will look like......Continue reading.