One way farmland owners can make money is by leasing their property for energy production, either from oil, natural gas, wind, or solar. Oil and natural gas produced more payments than wind and solar, according to research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
While only a relative handful of U.S. farms benefit from energy production, the payments can bolster farm income. About 3.5% of all farms have leased land for energy development, and the average annual payment in 2020 was $30,000, according to the USDA. (2020 was the latest year data was available.)
The USDA said the energy payments contribute “substantially to farm household income” and often exceed government subsidies to these farms.
