Management

Most long-term leases held by foreign persons are for wind and solar projects, covering 6.3 million acres, or about 0.7 percent of U.S. land in farms. In most counties the share is under 1 percent, and nearly all of these acres are associated with investors from Canada and Western Europe. Because the landowner retains title and AFIDA reports acreage as a whole parcel, lease acres are best viewed separately from ownership when assessing foreign holdings of U.S. agricultural land. 

The variable lease will result in larger rents during higher crop revenue periods and lower rents during lower crop revenue periods, providing some natural risk protection for the farmer tenant while also providing landowners with upside rent potential under better revenue conditions. However, the high production costs that have persisted since 2023 have resulted in some negative average returns even with the variable lease design. 

Using US land in Farms as the reference, foreign ownership interests amount to 0.67% of the total, and the remaining 99.33% is US owned. Forestland accounts for 88.5% while cropland, pasture, and other agricultural land account for 11.5%. The countries with the largest ownership positions in U.S. agricultural land are Canada and several Western European nations with primary ownership in forestland. Canada is the largest at 2.28 million acres (38%).