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ATFFI Technical Report No. 3 abstract


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Land Tenure in Wisconsin Agriculture: Still Keeping the Farm in the Family?

By Jess Gilbert and Thomas Beckley

This report presents the results of a historical study of farmland tenure patterns and landlord-tenant relations in Wisconsin. Using data from recent interviews with all landowners and tenants in the communities, the authors examine in-depth the changing tenure characteristics of two rural Wisconsin townships that had originally been studied as extreme cases of high and low rates of tenancy in the 1940s. Although they find evidence of increasing concentration of land ownership and the rise of a new class of "part-owners" among farmers in both townships, the results of their study suggests that landlord-tenant relations in rural Wisconsin tend to be non-exploitative and can be relatively advantageous to beginning and expanding farmers.

ATFFI Technical Report No. 3. June, 1995. 19 pp.