Changes in Land Values, Number of Farms, and Number of Tenants and Owners Since 1900

Abstract

Enough of the results of the Thirteenth Census of the United States has been given to the public concerning the present status of agriculture to warrant the first attempt at some general statements of movements or tendencies since 1900. In this brief paper I shall limit myself to the general farm information, and not refer to the data pertaining to crops or livestock. The first item on which we have definite information is the total number of farms. A complete statement for a group of three states (Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana) shows a decrease in ten years of approximately 32,740 farms, or nearly 5 per cent, of the total number of farms in these states. This represents the movement in the large group of states in the upper Mississsippi Valley; it is consistent in county after county, and is not confined to these three states. Indeed, if we divided the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, north of the three first mentioned, into two divisions by an east and west line, we could add the southern third of each of these states to the list already given. The same decrease in number of farms is noticeable. But there are many thou? sands of acres of undeveloped land in the northern part of these last-mentiorted three adjoining states, and during the last decade settlement has continued in this new district, and hundreds of new farms are being established. This movement is so strong that the increases in the newer sections of these states completely conceal the decreases in the older sections. The total increase in number of farms for these states is 10,970. Turning now to the reports for the New England states, we find that the number of farms reported for Maine, New