It is a common perception that farmers work the land they own, and they own the land they work. That may have been largely true in the past, but today it is increasingly less likely that the person who farms a piece of land owns that land. That is a key issue when looking at the state of agriculture today.

In Miner County, the numbers are surprising to say the least. As seen in the chart below, in 1997 only 16.1 percent of all acres farmed in the county were operated by people who owned all the land they farmed. Fully 10.1 percent of farmland was operated by farmers who owned no land at all. The other 73.8 percent of the acres in the county were farmed by people who were part owners of their land.

That last one is a tricky statistic. It doesn't mean that 73.8 percent of the land in Miner County is owned by someone and farmed by someone else. Much of the land in that number is actually owned by the same person who farms it. But it does mean that the people who work that 73.8 percent of the land own some of it and rent some of it.

Even so, why are the numbers so high?

It's a case of economics. Through the 1970s, owning farmland was a good investment because the high level of inflation actually caused interest rates to become negative. But in the 1980s, many farmers were forced into bankruptcy by mortgage payments on their land.

Suddenly, owning farmland was not the investment it once was. In the ensuing years, farms quickly dropped off the map, and that land was absorbed by surrounding farms. Ownership of the land became more mixed, renting became more prevalent, and complete ownership became rare.

So, that's the reality. Now, is it a problem?

The short answer: not necessarily.

When a farmer rents land from a neighbor or someone from across the county who owns it, it is a matter of business practicality. If a farmer has more land than they are able to farm, or if some of the land is geographically distant from their main acreage, they may rent out some of their land. That way, they are still able to make money off it while not being able to farm it themselves. Renting it out is advantageous for both the renter and the person renting the land.

But there's one situation where some might say non-ownership of the land is a problem. That's when talking about out-of-county land ownership. Recent statistics show that a significant percentage of Miner County's land is owned by people who do not live here. In fact, in eight of our 16 townships, more than 40% of the land is owned by people who live elsewhere. Local ownership of our land decreased 15 percent between 1992 and 1999. As striking as those statistics are, it's hard to blame people for selling land at the best price they can get. Agriculture is, after all, a business, and you can't fault farmers for making the best financial decisions for their enterprises. Sometimes the best financial decision involves selling land to an outside owner.

The loss of control over much of our land is an unfortunate side effect of making sound business decisions. There's not much blame to be assessed. But awareness does need to be made. Sometimes people do have choices when selling their land, and factors like this should be considered.

Ultimately, losing our land to out-of-county owners either bad, or not so bad, depending on your viewpoint. Obviously, the land itself will always be right here regardless of who owns it. The people who work that land will live here, because it would not be feasible to operate any other way.

What increasing out-of-county land ownership can mean for us is a loss of control, not just over the finances of our land operation, but over the course of agriculture in our home.

When we become tenants on our own land, is does nothing to diminish the nobility of the farming profession, but it does make it harder for us to steer our communities and countryside in directions of our own choosing.

Miner Notes was a weekly column written by Matt Laible for MCCR to promote understanding about the place we call home. All statistics and charts come from Dr. Daryl Hobbs at the University of Missouri. If you have questions or comments, please contact MCCR by calling 772-5153 or writing to P.O. Box 307 in Howard.