Institutional Investors Control Billions in U.S. Farmland Sparking Widespread Protests – Farmland for Farmers Act

Institutional investors now control $16.6 billion in U.S. farmland, sparking widespread protests.

Farmers and rural communities across the country are resisting corporate and investor encroachment on agricultural land, highlighting structural threats to family farms and rural economies. The push for federal policies like the Farmland for Farmers Act aims to curb farmland speculation and preserve working farms.

Investment firms and private equity have more than doubled their farmland holdings in three years, and 87 percent of landowners renting out farmland are non-operators. This trend has coincided with rental values rising 47 percent since 2014 and the loss of 159,000 family farms between 2017 and 2022. Communities in states including Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have rejected multimillion-dollar buyout offers for their land, wary of data center developments that jeopardize local resources. There is a growing class of absentee rural landlords profiting at farmers’ expense.

Advocates are calling for the passage of the Farmland for Farmers Act to protect family farmers and rural livelihoods.

Montana’s agricultural communities could be particularly sensitive to these shifts, as rising land values and absentee ownership might pressure local farmers who rely on affordable land access. The intersection of Montana’s vast agricultural landscapes and increasing corporate investment could influence the state’s rural economies and land use patterns going forward.

Commentary: Data Centers Aren’t the Only Threat to Farmland
By Tim Gibbons / National Family Farm Coalition, Dena Hoff / Northern Plains Resource Council, The Daily Yonder