An Examination of the Use of Rented Land by Kansas Farmers

Renting farmland is an important topic to farmers as it complements a typical farm’s largest asset. There are many advantages to owning farmland, but purchased farmland will seldom cashflow. Thus, most farmers have additional rented crop acres. Over the last 50 years, both profitability and financial risk from farming have increased, and this paper examines whether these changing agricultural conditions have impacted the percent of farmland rented. An exploratory analysis of Kansas data shows the land rental percentage has remained constant since the end of the 1980s farm crisis with the median farm renting 75% of its cropland acres. These results should provide guidance about the demand for rented farmland.