Yes Magazine - While urban commercial real estate has skyrocketed in places such as
New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., powerful investors have
also sought to turn a profit by investing in the most valuable rural
real estate: farmland. It’s a trend that’s driving up costs up for the
people who grow our food, and—slowly—it’s started to change the
economics of American agriculture.
Today, the United States Department of Agriculture estimates
that at least 30 percent of American farmland is owned by non-operators
who lease it out to farmers.
Think of it this way: If you wanted to buy Iowa farmland in 1970, the
average going price was $419 per acre, according to the Iowa State
University Farmland Value Survey. By 2016, the price per acre was
$7,183—a drop from the 2013 peak of $8,716, but still a colossal
increase of 1,600 percent from 1970.
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