USDA Measuring Financial Well-Being of Farmers With Survey

By Cami Koons

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been contacting producers to update its Tenure, Ownership, and Transition of Agricultural Land, or TOTAL, survey which shows the landowner characteristics of a state and informs farm policy. 

USDA last updated this survey in 2014 and found nearly 40% of farmland in the U.S. was either rented or leased, that the average age of the nation’s 1.4 million “principal landlords” was 67 years old and that 9% of farmland in the Midwest region was expected to transfer ownership in the subsequent five years. 

The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, or NASS, started contacting landowners in December to collect data on ownership, debt, income, demographics, assets and landlord characteristics as part of the TOTAL survey, according to a press release from the service. 

Greg Thessen, director of the NASS Upper Midwest regional field office, serving Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, said interviewers will begin reaching out in February to producers who have not yet responded to the survey. 

“Results from TOTAL will provide a single source of comprehensive, up-to-date information to measure financial impacts and challenges of land ownership,” Thessen said in the press release. “The data will help paint an accurate picture of farm costs, land ownership, land transfer plans for the next five years, six to 10 years, and beyond.” 

Thessen said staff will help producers in filling out the forms that “will accurately define the economic status of U.S. farm operations and households for all 50 states including Iowa.”

Results from the new survey will be published in a summarized format Oct. 31, 2025. According to the press release, survey responses are kept confidential and recipients of the survey are required to respond.

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