NEWSOMS—Farm real estate values are up. Land available for lease is down. And the rent still comes due.

About 33% of all agricultural acreage in Virginia was leased in 2022, according to that year’s Census of Agriculture—nationally it was 39%. Meanwhile, farm real estate values increased 10.4% 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 arrangement is driven by economic factors.

“Aside from owned land, most of a crop farmer’s capital is tied up in expensive equipment,” Banks explained. “There’s a financial incentive to spread capital equipment costs out over as many acres as possible.”

Westley Drake, a 14th-generation farmer in Southampton County, and member of the VFBF Peanut Advisory Committee, rents about half of his 1,400 acres for growing peanuts, cotton, soybeans, corn and some livestock through Sandy Ridge Farms Inc.

“As expensive as land is, many farmers don’t own all the land they work,” Drake explained. “There is partnership between landowners and farmers, so landowners receive income off the land, while the farmer can make a living too.”

As more developmental pressures compete for land, less acreage is available to rent. Land attainment is an ongoing barrier for young farmers, who are almost twice as likely to exclusively rent land.

Available farmland isn’t exactly advertised.

“The landowner typically chooses the farmer they want to lease to, through connections and family friendships,” Drake noted. “They will approach a farmer they trust who shares their values. A short-term agreement often develops into a long-term relationship.”

Banks said Virginia’s smaller-scale livestock farmers are more likely to own the land outright, since their operations require substantial infrastructure investments and maintenance, like cattle fencing.

Bruce Stanger, a VFBF state board member and cattleman based in Montgomery County, rents pastureland in Giles County for summer grazing. He said long-term pasture leases are uncommon.

“I rented it for 20 years on a handshake,” Stanger said. “But I wouldn’t do that with just anybody! There are horror stories about farmers dumping a bunch of money into improving the land and then losing the lease a year later.”

Media: Contact Banks at 804-514-5207, Drake at 757-556-1474, or Stanger at 540-320-7504.