§2204i Reports on land access and farmland ownership data collection

Summary

Send a public report to Congress within 1 year after December 20, 2018, that says what stops beginning farmers and ranchers and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers from getting or keeping farmland. The report must say how federal programs (like conservation easements, land transition, and financing) are helping with access, tenure, and farm succession. It must also list what regulatory, operational, or legal changes are needed to make access, tenure, and transitions better. The Agriculture Department must collect and publish data at least every 3 years on land ownership, tenure, transition, entry, barriers, profitability, and viability for those groups. The work must include surveys and economic analysis, a follow-on survey after each Census of Agriculture published within 3 years, and new NASS questions about non-farming investors, effects on new and disadvantaged farmers, undivided-interest land, and tenure patterns by race, gender, ethnicity, and region. Beginning farmers and ranchers and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers are defined in section 2279(a). Congress authorized $3,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2019–2023 for this work; funds remain available until spent.