Number of absentee owners rising in the state, say K-State agricultural economists
By Pat Melgares, K-State Research and Extension news service
In less than a decade, there has been a shift in land ownership trends in Kansas.
“There is a growing demographic of landowners in Kansas that are becoming more geographically and generationally removed from agriculture,” said Robin Reid, an agricultural economist at Kansas State University.
Reid cites data from 2015 indicating that 85% of Kansas land was owned by people living in the state. Research is ongoing, she says, but in 2022, data suggests a notable shift in land being owned by people who live outside the state’s borders.
“Some of that is due to inheritance and some of that is due to people purchasing land – especially hunting ground,” Reid said. “But we also know the No. 1 question in our county extension offices across the state is from landowners wanting to know the going rates for land leases and information on Kansas lease law.”
Reid said K-State is hosting the first-ever Kansas Landowner Conference on Nov. 10 to address challenges related to land ownership in Kansas. She notes that in addition to helping landowners build networks and learn about land management, the program includes information on:
• Agricultural land market conditions.
• Land lease management.
• Property tax regulations.
Registration is available online through Nov. 1. More information and the conference schedule is available at www.AgManager.info/Landowner.
More information on land-related issues also is available from the K-State Department of Agricultural Economics website, AgManager.info.
Landowner conference to help with challenges of owning land in Kansas