USDA data gives in-depth look at absentee farm landlords

Newly published data from the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service provides a nuanced portrait of absentee farm landlords, called "non-operating landlords" (NOLs), from 2012 to 2017. Landowners who live 100 miles or more from farmland they rent out is considered an absentee landlord. They are major players in farming; only a small portion of farmland is sold each year, so newcomers and farmers who want to expand must rent. Here are some of the highlights from the report, which ERS cautioned did not look into causes:

• Three of every 10 acres of U.S. farmland in the contiguous states, about 268 million acres, is rented to tenants by an owner who doesn't farm.
• In 2014, 39% of farmland in the contiguous U.S. was rented. Of that share, 80% was owned by NOLs.
• Most NOLs live close to their land. About two-thirds of rented acres—185 million—are owned by absentee owners who live within 50 miles of their rented land. In 2014, NOLs in the Midwest tended to live much closer to their land than those in other states.
• NOLs who live 50 to 100 miles from their land rent out 24 million acres.
• Land rental rates tend to be lower when the owner lives farther away and in areas with higher percentages of NOLs.
• The prevalence of absent landlords was consistently higher in counties and states with lower rents and land values and weaker indicators of local economic development.
• At the state level, the relationship between absentee ownership and per-capita income in 2017 was not statistically significant, but per-capita income growth went down as distance from the owner increased.
• There was no statistical link between the percentage of absent landlords and the percentage of acres using conservation tillage or no-till farming practices in 2017. 
• Higher shares of absentee landlords in a state are associated with a larger increase in acreage using such conservation practices and the number of practices used from 2012 to 2017.
• States with a higher percentage of absentee landlords had a lower percentage of cropland using cover crops in 2017, but there was no statistical link between the percentage change in cover crop usage over the period studied.