Land Tenure and Conservation in Agriculture

Why Our Work is Needed

Agricultural land management decisions are situated within a complex and interconnected system, influenced by a suite of social and economic factors, many of which are difficult to control. Landowners can, but often don’t, take it upon themselves to drive stewardship of their land. Funded by the Walton Family Foundation, the Delta Institute has focused on land ownership and tenure as levers to increase conservation and rebuild soil health in the Midwest, where over 50 percent of the agricultural land is leased. 

Brief Overview of What We’re Doing

In 2019, Delta Institute released the report, Land Tenure and Conservation in Agriculture: Creating Incentives for Landowners. This report explores the network of stakeholders, policies, and institutions through which soil health can be linked to the value of the land and serve as an incentive to change management of that land. Although soil health and management practices are not currently explicitly integrated into the land valuation system, we identify opportunities where such linkages can be created and utilized to rebuild soil health. 

Project Materials and Resources

The additional resources below also contain helpful information about the project and the tools that have been developed by the project team.

Soil Health Testing

Using tools that test soil health and applying what we learn presents an opportunity to restore soil health and improve land management. The resources in this section help to plan and implement soil health testing practices.

Conservation Leasing

As a binding contract, the lease agreement is the key instrument that land managers and owners can use to ensure that their land is managed in a certain way. The resources in this section provide key information to make decisions about lease agreements.

Tracking Progress

Data collection and analysis is an integral part of managing a farmland leasing program. It is helpful to define specific management categories that are important to the organization and identify measurable or verifiable metrics that will evaluate the management category in question. The resource below provides guidance to aid this effort.

If you have any questions about the project or the content on this page, contact Olga Lyandres, Ph.D., at olyandres@delta-institute.org.