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Because farm real estate represents much of the value of U.S. farm
sector assets, large swings in farmland values can affect the
financial well-being of agricultural producers. This report
examines both macroeconomic (interest rates, prices of alternative
investments) and parcel-specific (soil quality, government
payments, proximity to urban areas) factors that affect farmland
values. In the last few years, U.S. farmland values have been
supported by strong farm earnings, which have helped the farm
sector in many regions to withstand the residential housing
downturn. Historically low interest rates are likely a significant
contributor to farming's current ability to support higher land
values. About 40 percent of U.S. farmland has been rented over the
last 25 years. Non-operators (landowners who do not themselves
farm) owned 29 percent of land in farms in 2007, though that
proportion has declined since 1992.
The United States has a total land area of nearly 2.3 billion
acres. In 2007, the major land uses were forestland at 671 million
acres (30 percent); grassland pasture and rangeland at 614 million
(27 percent); cropland at 408 million (18 percent); special uses
(primarily parks and wildlife areas) at 313 million acres (14
percent); miscellaneous uses (like tundra or swamps) at 197 million
acres (9 percent); and urban land at 61 million acres (3 percent).
This report presents findings from the most recent (2007) inventory
of U.S. major land uses, drawing on data from the U.S. Census
Bureau, public land management and conservation agencies, and other
sources. The data are synthesized by State to estimate the use of
several broad classes and subclasses of agricultural and
nonagricultural land over time. National and regional trends in
land use are compared with earlier major land-use estimates.
Beginning, limited-resource, and socially disadvantaged farmers
make up as much as 40 percent of all U.S. farms. Some Federal
conservation programs contain provisions that encourage
participation by such "targeted" farmers and the 2008 Farm Act
furthered these efforts. This report compares the natural resource
characteristics, resource issues, and conservation treatment costs
on farms operated by targeted farmers with those of other
participants in the largest U.S. working-lands and land retirement
conservation programs. Some evidence shows that targeted farmers
tend to operate more environmentally sensitive land than other
farmers, have different conservation priorities, and receive
different levels of payments. Data limitations preclude a
definitive analysis of whether efforts to improve participation by
targeted farmers hinders or enhances the conservation programs'
ability to deliver environmental benefits cost effectively. But the
different conservation priorities among types of farmers suggest
that if a significantly larger proportion of targeted farmers
participates in these programs, the programs' economic and
environmental outcomes could change.
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