As someone actively searching for farmland for farm purposes, one thing farmers could do when they decide to sell is actually consider use with their buyers and the price they put on it. Pricing it at 6-15 times the price of 10 years ago based on what developers will pay will also price people who want to actually farm it out of the market.
this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2026
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Humans are greedy when they're dealing with faceless numbers from people they don't know. They might care that you want to use it for farming purposes if you showed up at their door and talked to them about it, but otherwise they're just trying to sell to whoever for as much as possible.
I'd like to agree on that, but the reality is they won't even bother talking to anyone. Everything goes through the realtor, they don't seem to ever want anyone to show up without. On the way back from an outing with the kids, we swung by one and just parked on the street and looked and talked. The owner happened to be outside, and we got "You'll have to talk to the realtor if you want to see anything" then he just straight up went inside.
If I could find a better option for finding the sorts of farmers mentioned in the article who want people who will work the land and not just tear it up, I'd use it. I have yet to find one though.
Going through the realtor probably wouldn't work, yeah. I'd hope some people would be more open to talking than the guy you met. My sister and I ended up selling our mom's old house to a neighbor's son, who wanted to live close by because of his mom's old age. He just walked up to us when we were doing some yard work and asked if he could talk to us about it. Not sure how polite it is to do that, but it worked out in that scenario.
We've got friends (with no intention of selling) with farms in the area, and have them looking out for options. Unfortunately nothing through them direct to an owner yet.
That's a good start, for sure. I'd have them talk to their neighbors and spread the word. From my experience with farm country, they often have that small-town effect where things like this can spread quickly. You don't happen to be looking in southern Minnesota, do you? If so, I know some farmers myself that I could talk to.
Unfortunately not or I'd take you up on it!
Our friends have been chatting with other locals, even ones who have chunks of land that aren't used to see if they'd sell a piece off or something that they aren't using. So far no bites, but we're all keeping an eye out on options.
Good luck!
I have heard of sellers picking a more ethical choice for a lower rate. But usually its only small amounts. Like selling a house for 230k instead of 240k because the first is a family and the second is a landlord.
In the same boat, fortunately the state I live in makes the buy that wants to rezone from Agi to Res/Commercial has to pay 7 years back of the taxes of what the new rezoning is going to be.
But its getting to a point where the McManson developers can clear that cost w/ a few sales...
For where I am there is a similar fee for the rezoning, but I don't think that matters to them at this point. Even with the 3-5 acre minimum plots some of the towns have.
I've seen a few straight up empty plots (no buildings but actively farmed) in the 20-80 acre range sell for millions, that sold less than 10 years ago in the $200k-$400k range. They've already been split up into new lots, starting price of the homes are $900k and up, not even built yet. The fee on the taxes is less than 10% of the sale price according to public records.
And the town/county loves them as they get more taxes from the residential/commercial properties year after year...
Plus they only want the mega farms like Gates. Then they can control the food supply or the crap they feed us. So egregious and you can't win. Well unless you go super rural.
Solar power aquaponics.
Geothermal/Greenhouses/aquaponics. Yes a greenhouse is techincally solar, heck throw a few cells and a battery bank up to run the pumps/fans.
Exactly. Use a 10th of the area.
And you can grow items you could never consider growing in the northern climates!
I'm sure you seen this but others might like it too:
Oranges in Nebraska: