Farm real estate values are up. Land available for lease is down. And the rent still comes due.
About a third of all agricultural acreage in Virginia was leased in 2022, according to that year’s Census of Agriculture—nationally it was 39 percent. Meanwhile, farm real estate values increased 10.4 percent in the commonwealth from 2023 to 2024.
The National Agricultural Statistical Service’s 2023 cropland and pastureland rental rates report showed Virginia’s non-irrigated cropland rates are highest in Rockingham County at $102 per acre annually, followed by Westmoreland and Isle of Wight counties.
Over half of U.S. farmers operate on a mixture of owned and rented land.
Compared to pastureland, row crops are more likely to be produced on rented acres, which can be rotated without making significant long-term infrastructure investments to crop fields, said Tony Banks, senior assistant director of agriculture, development and innovation for Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.
He said this arran...