Out-of-state investors are buying up Nebraska land in part because of the groundwater that can be placed on crops. But there are restrictions on what they can do with that water.
Outside investment in farmland continues to increase, but some economists and many farmers worry deep pockets are pushing prices above what the land is worth.
Seven out-of-state buyers, including a Utah church, a Philadelphia corporate farm and a California investment fund, spent nearly $250 million in the past five years on pricey Nebraska farmland, FFP analysis shows.
The sense Iowa’s agricultural land is both scarce and gaining value has driven the average price to a record-setting $11,400 per acre last year. Now Iowa farmers are bidding not only against neighbors, but out-of-state investors including professional athletes, well-known billionaires and the Mormon
Citing concerns about China, House Republicans ask GAO to look at foreign ownership. The 1978 Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act requires holders to report ownership to the USDA. There are gaps in the data reported.
In 2013, mammoth U.S. investment company TIAA-CREF gave $5 million to the University of Illinois — to study an area of investment where the company has made a, sometimes controversial, name for itself.
As thousands of acres of Iowa farmland are eyed as possible sites for solar farms, a research project is getting underway to explore a new crop that could co-exist
TOLONO — Lin Warfel puts farmland owners in central Illinois into two categories: Those with a deep connection and desire to preserve their land, and those obsessed with short-term money. The 80-year-old still owns the land that’s been in his family since his great-grandfather arrived in Champaign C
In recent years, Urbana billionaire Shahid Khan has added to investments by quietly purchasing farmland through a company he owns called Baloo Enterprises LLC. A spokesperson for Khan confirmed earlier this month that Khan has purchased roughly 24,000 acres of farmland in central Illinois.
America has lost millions of acres of farmland over the nearly three decades to urban and rural development. Despite conservation efforts by state and local governments and increased financial incentives for farmers, urban development and the expansion of rural residential real estate over the last