UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1433 
Washington, D. C. T Seplember, 1926 
THE OWNERSHIP OF TENANT FARMS IN THE NORTH CENTRAL STATES 
By Howard A. Turner, Assistant Agricultural Economist, Division of Land 
Economics and Land Utilization, Bureau of Agricultural Economics 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Need of specific information 1 
Methods and areas selected for study 2 
Concentration of ownership 4 
Eesidence of landlords and extent of absen- 
teeism 16 
Women owners of rented farms 26 
Ages of owners of rented farms 26 
Farm experience of landlords 29 
Page 
Occupations of owners of rented farms 31 
How ownership was acquired "!' 33 
Kinship of landlords and tenants 35 
Supervision given by owners to tenants 36 
Tendency toward soil depletion on rented 
farms 38 
Children of farm landlords 39 
Summary 39 
NEED OF SPECIFIC INFORMATION 
Existence of a tenant class implies existence of a landlord class. 
The tenancy problem has excited much attention in, the United 
States. Undoubtedly, a most important aspect of the problem and 
one on which little light has hitherto been available, is the question 
of ownership of rented land. 
The special characteristics of the landlord-tenant problem in the 
North Central States made it seem desirable to devote a bulletin to 
the ownership of rented farms in that region. Not only is tenancy 
proportionately more important in many parts of the North Central 
States than in the Nation as a whole and increasing at a more rapid 
rate, but the system of tenancy has certain special characteristics 
which make the region as a whole somewhat distinctive in these 
regards as compared with other regions. 
Tenant farms to the number of 679,426, containing 120,673,840 
acres and worth $15,446, 126, 854, were reported in the 12 North Cen- 
tral States in 1919. 1 In 1920, 31.1 per cent of the farms of these 12 
States were rented. These rented farms contained 45.5 per cent of 
the rented farm land in the country and 52.6 per cent of the rented 
farm land which was improved. Their value was 64.9 per cent of 
the total value of all the rented farm land and buildings of the country, 
but they represented only 27.7 per cent of the number of rented farms 
in the 48 States of the country. 2 If land rented to farmers who own 
a part and rent the rest of the land which they farm were included, 
1 The 12 States include Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North 
Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. 
i The corresponding percentages in 1900 were 40.5, 49.7, 59.7, and 30.2, respectively. 
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