Iowa's rural landscape gradually empities
When family members inherit Iowa farmland from retired or deceased parents or grandparents, a lot of challenging issues can come up, said Kelvin Leibold, Extension farm management field specialist in Hardin County.
Rising prices make the land a valuable commodity, and Internal Revenue Service rules make it attractive to hold onto the land, he said.
"If you bought land at $1,000 an acre and pass the land on to your heirs, your estate can sell it at $6,000 an acre with no tax penalty," he said.
"It's one of the reasons why it's harder to get older people to sell."
But change is coming nonetheless, according to Mike Duffy, ISU economics professor and director of the university's beginning farmer center.
"Over half the farmland in the state is owned by people over age 65, and 28 percent of it is owned by people over 75," he said.
In 1982, 6 percent of Iowa farmland was controlled by absentee owners. Now, it's 21 percent, Duffy said.
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