In the United States, there are over 2.2 million farms averaging about 435 acres each. Due to its natural resources and perfect land conditions, the U.S. was always planned to be a leading producers of agricultural goods. Agricultural production is present in all 50 states with almost 920 million acres of farmland across the country. Of those, about a third are operated by full owners. In 2011 alone, the U.S. grossed more than $374 billion and managed 750,000 employees around the country. With that said, farmland real estate has always been a profitable market.
Before one can truly understand the farmland real estate market, there must first be an understood definition of the difference between a farm and a ranch. To put it as simple as possible, a farmer raises mainly crops and ranchers raises mainly cattle or sheep. Farms are usually smaller than ranches but this has no negative effect on production.
As with most things in the farmland real estate industry, the market is slightly different in each geographic area. Farmland and ranches for sale are certainly no exception. Texas tops the list for farm real estate value while California is not far behind. California’s top three agricultural exports are almonds, dairy and dairy products, and wine. It took first place in the United States for agricultural cash receipts. It is just above Iowa, Texas, Nebraska, and Illinois.
It is no secret that Texas comes to mind when most people think of agriculture production and farm real estate. With one in seven of its residents working in an agriculture-related job it is easy to see why. The state generates $36.4 billion annually in revenue from agriculture production and related businesses.
Wyoming is another state that is well recognized in the farmland real estate market in the U.S. 30.169 million acres of land is used specifically for the production of agriculture. In 2013, Wyoming accounted for $520 million in crop production revenue.
When it comes to operating these farms, 96.4% of all crop-producing farm are owned and run by families. Many having inherited the land from relatives and continuing the tradition of passing the family business down to the next of kin. Some of the benefits of keeping the business and land within the family are that employee wages are usually lower and growing up on the land make a great resource in becoming an subject-matter expert when ads for farmland for sale come around.
