Of all the private land in the United States, farmland accounts for 18%. That’s a massive region of the United States devoted to raising crops. Not only that, but up to 96.4% of crop-producing American farms are still owned by families, even with the rise of the industrial agriculture complex. Since our nation’s earliest days, farming the land has been woven into our country’s DNA.
Agriculture is also a huge driver of the nation’s economy, with 2.2 million active farms stretching from sea to shining sea. To give you a sense of perspective, Nebraska farms have exported $23 billion in agricultural goods to countries all over the world. And if that seems like a lot, remember that agriculture generates $36.4 billion every year in Texas alone.
In the 21st century, agriculture will play an even more central role in the U.S. economy. That’s because the price of farmland for sale has been on the rise overall, and big-name investors like George Soros and Jim Rogers have poured incredible amount of financial resources into farms.
So why is farmland such a major investment this decade? First, there are roughly 7.1 billion people in the world, and every single one of them needs to be fed. Not only that, but the global population is going to keep growing and growing (and growing). That means farms around the world will have to increase food production by 70% by 2050.
That old saying really is true, “Land is the only thing they’re not making more of.”
As development and urban sprawl chews up more and more forests and land, the price of farmland for sale will continue to rise. And that makes farmland an attractive investment for many people. And it’s not just farmland that’s seeing major investment. The growth in agriculture has also driven growth in related industries. Luxury ranches, cattle ranches, and hunting ranches for sale have also attracted huge investment as well.