The Looming Threat of Tenant Farming
Professor O. L. Waller warns that as land prices soar, young farmers will be unable to afford to buy their own acreage, potentially leading to a new era of landlord-tenant agriculture.
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We may look ahead to the land passing into the hands of capitalists and in operation by tenants, said Prof. O. L. Waller of the State College of Washington, addressing the Washington Irrigation Institute in Yakima. His conclusion was drawn from a survey of the rapid increase in the price of farm land. From 1900 to 1920, the price of land increased at an unprecedented rate. It will readily be seen that at $250 an acre, the cost of a farm involves an amount of capital very few young men would have, unless they inherited it. Consequently, one of the great questions before the American people is how to maintain their food and fibers for the increasing population at the high level to which we are accustomed.
“We may look ahead to the land passing into the hands of capitalists, and in operation by tenants.”
Waller's warning from a century ago highlights a perpetual tension in Washington state: the economic barrier to entry for young farmers. Today, the rise of industrial and corporate-owned farmland in the Columbia Basin continues to spark debate over local food security versus large-scale export economics.
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