Figure 1. County-based data on cash rental is available in the USDA-NASS website under “Get the data” and “Quick Stats database” (orange circles).
Cash rent estimates are reported in $ per acre, and information is available from 2008 to 2014, and from 2016 to 2020. An easy way to find Pennsylvania’s cash rent data is to download the datasheet and use Excel to create filters.
Details on data collection, how data and outliers were handled, sample size, response rates, and coefficients of variation can be found in the section “Methodology and Data Quality”. For example, the sample size for Pennsylvania in 2020 was 5518 farms, and the response rate was 64%, down from 69.3% in 2019. The number of farmers that responded the survey each year per county is not available on the website.
Cash rents can be quite variable within the state, within a county, within a town, and even among farms along the same road. Each cropland or pastureland has its unique characteristics that can lead to very contrasting rental rates, including soil types, average yields, access to water, previous crops, prevalent weeds, among many other factors that should be considered before signing a lease . In addition, stay informed on what others are charging, market prices for agricultural products, and other external factors that may impact cash rental rates. Additional information and resources can be found in the article “ Owning and Leasing Agricultural Real Estate ”.
Source : psu.edu