PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Weber, Jeremy G.
AU  - Key, Nigel
TI  - Leveraging Wealth from Farmland Appreciation: Borrowing, Land Ownership, and Farm Expansion
AID  - 10.3368/le.91.2.344
DP  - 2015 May 01
TA  - Land Economics
PG  - 344--361
VI  - 91
IP  - 2
4099  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/91/2/344.short
4100  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/91/2/344.full
SO  - Land Econ2015 May 01; 91
AB  - We study how increases in wealth from rapid appreciation of farmland influenced farmer decisions to borrow, buy land, and expand. Exploiting periods of high and low appreciation and a panel data model that allows for correlation between prior growth trends and the share of land owned, we find that a dollar increase in paper wealth led younger farmers to increase real-estate-secured borrowing by 48 cents. Land purchases accompanied the increase in borrowing, supporting the view that collateral-based lending may be contributing to the recent runup in farmland prices. We find no effect of land wealth on production or acres harvested. (JEL Q15, R14)