Wendong Zhang and Alejandro Plastina, assistant professors, were interviewed for an Estherville News article on the results of the 2017 Iowa Farmland Ownership Tenure Survey conducted by ISU Extension and Outreach. The survey, started in 1949, is conducted every five years.
Zhang and Plastina's survey results were also reported in a June 29th story on AgWeb.com.
The survey found 20 percent of the farmland was owned by the same person for at least 40 years and more than half (55 percent) of the land was owned by the same person for more than 20 years. That level of stability increases land values.
"...over time, there's a gradual movement away from more individual ownership, especially sole owners, to a more institutionalized ownership in terms of trusts and corporations," Zhang said.
Plastina said the telephone survey results in a collection of widely used data and, the best available information. "It is statistically representative of all owners and all land in Iowa."
Read the survey results at CARD.
Other media coverage on the survey:
- Ames Tribune
- Radio Iowa
- Iowa Public Radio