U.S. farmland shrinks while land values, production costs grow
Researchers say rising land values and higher costs are pushing more farmers to sell or expand, even as remaining acreage continues to shrink.
- U.S. farmland acreage is declining while the market value of remaining land surges, according to recent federal data showing exponential growth in agricultural land values.
- Rising production costs—which ballooned to $543.08 billion—force smaller operations to exit or consolidate, while economic pressures increasingly favor larger, corporate-owned farms.
- Drew Swanson of the Agricultural History Society notes that New Deal-era policies still influence modern agriculture, often encouraging farms to become "bigger and bigger."
- R. Douglas Hurt, Purdue University historian, says many older farm owners are choosing to retire and sell, while high entry costs prevent younger farmers from expanding operations.
- The shift toward fewer, larger farms is fundamentally altering rural communities, though Barry Ward of Ohio State University notes some producers benefit from "significant profitability" during favorable market periods.
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11 Articles
Farm production costs mixed last year, soaring in 2026 | Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network
Farm production costs were mixed last year but are up significantly in 2026. USDA Chief Economist Justin Benevidez provides the specifics from 2025. https://d30hko96l9xirl.cloudfront.net/Iowamediafolder/2026/07/07282026-benavidez-01.mp3 Benevidez says the largest increase occurred in livestock and poultry production. However, the latest farm expenditure report shows crop farm spending dropped more than six-and-a-half percent. https://d30hko96l9xirl.cloudfront.net/Iowamediafolder/2026/07/07282026-benavidez-02.mp3 The numbers for 2026 paint a much different story. Fertilizer is up year-over-year by five percent for ammonia and up to 37 percent for DAP. Since 2020, fuel and oil are up 32 percent, seeds, 18 percent, labor, 24 percent, and borrowing costs, 71 percent. The Iran war, Chinese fertilizer export restrictions, and sanctions on Russian exports have all led to input cost spikes for U.S. farmers. USDA’s Economic Research Service projects that total per-acre production costs for all nine principal row crops will rise in 2026, adding more pressure to margins.
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