Who's Actually Buying Farmland Today? A Look at Iowa's 35-Year Buyer Data

Media coverage of the farmland market tends to fixate on a compelling narrative: Wall Street firms, foreign governments, and billionaire investors are buying up American farmland, squeezing out family farmers and fundamentally changing the ownership landscape. It is a dramatic story. It is also largely inaccurate.

Iowa has maintained one of the most comprehensive farmland buyer surveys in the country for over 35 years, and the data tells a very different story from the headlines. At Schrader's 2025 annual market presentation, our president RD Schrader presented the latest Iowa buyer composition data alongside historical trends that reveal who is actually buying farmland — and the answer should be encouraging for sellers.

The 2024 Buyer Mix

According to the most recent Iowa farmland buyer survey, the 2024 buyer composition was:

• 70% existing farmers — agricultural operators expanding their acreage base
• 23% investors — non-operating buyers purchasing farmland as an investment
• 4% new farmers — first-time agricultural buyers entering the market
• 3% other — including government entities, institutional buyers, and miscellaneous

The story is clear: existing farmers remain the dominant force in the farmland market, accounting for seven out of every ten acres sold. This has been the general case for as long as the survey has been conducted, and it reflects the fundamental nature of farmland as a productive agricultural asset rather than a speculative financial instrument.

The Historical Trend: Stability, Not Revolution

Tracking the Iowa buyer data over 35 years reveals a market whose composition has been remarkably stable, with cyclical fluctuations rather than structural shifts:

Investor participation has ranged from a low of approximately 18% in 2012 to a high of approximately 39% in 2005. The current 23% share sits comfortably in the middle of the historical range. Investors tend to increase their participation when farm incomes are down, and operators are less competitive. The current moderate level suggests neither investor euphoria nor wholesale retreat.

Farmer participation has correspondingly ranged from roughly 55% to 78%, moving inversely with investor activity. The current 70% farmer share is at the higher end of the historical range, suggesting that the current market is driven more by agricultural expansion than by investment speculation.

New farmer participation has consistently hovered in the low single digits, reflecting the significant capital barriers to entering farming. At 4% in 2024, this figure is typical of the long-term trend.

Dispelling the Myths

The Iowa data directly challenges several popular narratives about the farmland market:

Myth: Institutional investors are taking over. The 3% "other" category — which includes institutional buyers — has never been a large factor in the Iowa market. While high-profile institutional purchases make headlines precisely because they are unusual, they represent a tiny fraction of actual farmland transactions. The vast majority of farmland changes hands between neighbors, local operators, and regional investors, not between institutional funds.

Myth: Foreign buyers are driving up prices. Foreign ownership of U.S. farmland, while a subject of legitimate policy debate, remains statistically insignificant in the buying data. Foreign purchases do not register as a meaningful category in 35 years of Iowa survey data.

Myth: Family farmers can't compete. At 70% of purchases, existing farmers are not just competing — they are the drivers of the market. Farmers have built-in advantages as buyers: they understand the asset, they can put it into immediate production, they benefit from operational efficiencies when adding adjacent acres, and they often have multigenerational relationships in the community that give them first access to opportunities.

What "Less" Activity Tells Us

One additional data point from the Iowa survey deserves attention. When asked to characterize the level of farmland sale activity in their area, 56% of respondents in 2024 described activity as "less" than normal. Only a small minority described it as "more."

This tight supply environment is one of the most important support mechanisms for farmland values. When relatively few acres come to market, buyers compete more intensely for the available properties. The combination of strong farmer demand (70% of buyers) and limited supply (56% reporting "less" activity) creates the competitive dynamics that sustain values even as commodity prices and interest rates create headwinds.

What This Means for Sellers

For farmland owners considering a sale, the buyer composition data carries several practical implications:

Your buyer is possibly your neighbor - but not always. The most likely purchaser of your farmland is an existing farmer in your area — someone who knows the land, has perhaps been farming it as a tenant, and values it for operational reasons that go beyond the per-acre price. A professional auction reaches these local buyers and ensures they compete against each other and against the investor and institutional interest that also exists in the market.

Investor demand provides competitive pressure. While farmers dominate at 70%, the 23% investor share means that nearly one in four potential buyers is evaluating your land as an investment. These buyers have different valuation criteria and different return expectations than operating farmers. A well-marketed auction brings both pools together and lets them compete, which is precisely the dynamic that drives auction prices above appraisal values.

Tight supply works in your favor. With 56% of market observers reporting "less" farmland sale activity, the properties that do come to market receive outsized attention. This is not the time to sell your land quietly through a private negotiation that reaches only a handful of potential buyers. This is the time to expose your property to the full market through a professionally managed Schrader auction that capitalizes on the scarcity dynamic.

The farmland buyer market is deep, real, and dominated by the people who understand the asset best — working farmers. Understanding this reality helps sellers set appropriate expectations and choose the sale method most likely to access the full depth of that buyer pool.