TOTAL-LANDLORD�PROJECT CODE 682

USDA-NASS

TOTAL? AGAIN?

• TOTAL (Tenure, Ownership, and Transition of Agricultural Land) has two portions, TOTAL-ARMS3 (operators) and TOTAL-Landlord (landlords).

​

• The title at the top of the TOTAL-Landlord survey is functionally the same, but the questions asked in the survey are different from ARMS 3.

TOTAL-LANDLORD

• TOTAL-Landlord is carried out every 10 years and is required by law as part of our census programs. Here, we are asking for data as pertaining to year 2024.

​

• TOTAL-Landlord is also unlike most of the surveys we do at NASS in that the people we are contacting are often NOT farmers. This could potentially be just about any entity, including but not limited to:
• Farmers that have retired and leased out their land
• Families that may have farmed ancestrally but now only own and lease out their land
• Trusts
• Financial institutions that have real estate as part of their portfolio

​

A NOTICE OF CAUTION…

• In principle, many of the questions that we ask here are about what is being done with the land, but the people we’re asking are not the operators.
• The respondents may not know the answers to most if not nearly all of the questions you are asking.
• Like in ARMS 3, the questions we are asking may seem nosy and prying at a time when data security is a sensitive issue. We must emphasize the importance of collecting this data as part of the census program and as such this data is protected by law and not subject to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) disclosure requirements.

MISC INFO

• Project Code: 682

​

• As these respondents should be landlords only, there should be no survey matches for TOTAL-Landlord.

​

• We will not be providing a hard paper copy for each respondent for every enumerator.

​

LOGISTICS

• Some of the records you will be assigned will not have phone numbers.
• Field visits will be authorized only for records that do not have a phone number either in contact information or in the comments.

TIMELINES

• Pressure Sealed Envelope: November 29, 2024
• Initial Mail Date: January 3, 2025
• Pressure Sealed Envelope: January 29, 2025
• Second Mail Date: March 5, 2025
• Field Enumeration Begins: March 30, 2025
• Last day to CAPI/UPS: April 24, 2025

QUESTIONNAIRE LABEL

• Collect data for the state listed below the survey code.
• State may be different from address

SECTION 1: LAND OWNERSHIP�PAGE 2

• The first four questions are screening questions.
• Question 4 refers to whether the respondent operated any farm or ranch in ANY state.
• In general, those we are contacting in this survey are landlords, not respondents. They are to respond to the survey if the following apply:
• They do NOT operate a farm
• They lease land in the state on the questionnaire (the state mentioned in CAPI/label) to an entity and that land is subsequently farmed, even if not farmed by the specific entity they are leasing to.

​

​

SECTION 1: LAND OWNERSHIP�PAGE 2

• The remainder of the questions in Section 1 refer to acres owned within the state listed.
• For Question 7, if the landlord falls under multiple of these categories, appropriately allocate the acreage according to the composition of the ownership.
• Ex: A joint venture composed of 50% family LLC and a 50% non-family LLC should have acres allocated to both C and D.

SECTION 2: ACRES AND USE�PAGE 3

• Question 1: Please categorize open cropland used as pasture as “Pastureland.”
• The respondent may not know the answers to these questions. That is OK.

SECTION 3: RENTAL AGREEMENTS�PAGE 4-5

• Question 2: Keep in mind that the questions refer to land rented out within the listed state.

SECTION 4: LAND ACQUISITION�PAGE 5-6

• Question 1: If acreage in the same category was acquired over multiple transactions, list the most recent date that land in that category was acquired.
• Question 2: 1031 exchanges can be cross-state. The acreage listed here must have been acquired within the listed state, but the corresponding sale could have been from any state.

SECTION 4: LAND ACQUISITION�PAGE 5-6

• Question 1: If acreage in the same category was acquired over multiple transactions, list the most recent date that land in that category was acquired.
• Question 2: 1031 exchanges can be cross-state. The acreage listed here must have been acquired within the listed state, but the corresponding sale could have been from any state.

SECTION 5: FUTURE PLANS FOR AG LAND�PAGE 6-7

• This section deals with how land is to be dealt with in the future, whether through sale or inheritance.
• The respondent can respond yes to more than one of the options.
• Please note that there is a distinction in this section between a trust and a will.

SECTION 5: FUTURE PLANS FOR AG LAND�PAGE 6-7

• This section deals with how land is to be dealt with in the future, whether through sale or inheritance.
• The respondent can respond yes to more than one of the options.
• Please note that there is a distinction in this section between a trust and a will.
• Don’t forget the second page.

SECTION 6: LANDLORD FARM INCOME�PAGE 7

• For Questions 1 and 2A, we’re looking for cash received in 2024, so this includes cash received for rent from previous years and rent in advance.
• For Question 4A: Note that this number can be negative if there was a realized loss.

SECTION 7: LANDLORD FARM ASSETS�PAGE 8

• Question 1: No portion of the assets should go into more than one item.
• EX: If the tenant lives in the barn, it’s a barn and not a tenant dwelling.
• Question 2F: This is any accounts receivable not already reported in Section 6, item 2B. Do not double-count here.

SECTION 8: LANDLORD EXPENSES�PAGE 9

• Section 8 must be completed if the respondent had any expenses for their acres rented out. If we could only get one section worth of data after the respondent screens in, it would be this one.
• These are the expenses incurred by the LANDLORD on the relevant farmland, not the operator. Clarify that the landlord isn’t to report expenses incurred by the operator.

SECTION 9: LANDLORD FARM DEBT�PAGE 10

• Question 2: This should cover any debt that is related to assets mentioned in section 7.
• If the debt was paid off before the end of 2024, do not include it.

SECTION 10: LANDOWNER INFORMATION�PAGE 11-12

• This section seeks to provide demographics and context to how important their rented land is to the respondent’s overall financial picture.

SECTION 10: LANDOWNER INFORMATION�PAGE 11-12

• This section seeks to provide demographics and context to how important their rented land is to the respondent’s overall financial picture.
• Questions 9-12, 14, and 15 generally refer to out-of-state and/or off-farm income, assets, and debt.

SECTION 10: LANDOWNER INFORMATION�PAGE 11-12

• This section seeks to provide demographics and context to how important their rented land is to the respondent’s overall financial picture.
• Questions 9-12, 14, and 15 generally refer to out-of-state and/or off-farm income, assets, and debt.
• Don’t forget the last page.

SECTION 11: CONCLUSION

• Please thank the respondent for their time and willingness to respond-positively acknowledge the potentially intrusive nature of the questions.