A Graphic Summary of Farm Tenure (Based Largely on the Census of 1930 and 1935)

Excerpts from the report Introduction: Farms of a size and type suitable for family operation with little hired labor are characteristic of the United States as a whole. Only the plantations of the South and a comparatively few farms elsewhere are too large for family operation. Owner-operated farms outnumber tenant farms and owner-operated farm acreage exceeds tenant-operated farm acreage. The general trend, however, has been toward tenancy, with a lessening ratio of equity in farm real estate held by the farm operator. In brief, farmers are gradually losing ownership of the land. The proportion of farms operated by tenants has increased from 35 percent in 1900, 37 percent in 1910, and 38 percent in 1920 to 42 percent in 1930 and in 1935. The percentage of farm land operated under lease has increased from 31 percent in 1900, 33 percent in 1910, and 37 percent in 1920 to 44 percent in 1930 and 45 percent in 1935. The equities of the farm operators of the Nation constituted 54 percent of the value of all farm real estate in 1900, 50 percent in 1910, 46 percent in 1920, 42 percent in 1930, and have presumably decreased even further since 1930. Farm tenancy tends to increase with the commercialization of agriculture. Free land and democratic rural institutions have retarded the segregation of labor from capital in agriculture, as contrasted with industry; but the trend toward such segregation is clear. Increasing proportions of the farmers are becoming tenants in the regions where commercial agriculture is dominant, and increasing proportions of the tenants are becoming croppers or wage hands in the South. This trend is profoundly affecting both the present and future welfare of the rural people.