By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

Texas farmers paid more to rent pasture and cropland over the past year, according to a new rental rates report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Pasture rent
Farmers in northeast Texas paid the most to rent pasture land with an average of $14 per acre. That’s up 50 cents over 2017.

Renting pasture land in the Trans-Pecos region cost the least at $1.20 an acre, on average. That’s down a dime from 2017.

Pasture rent rates in the Coastal Bend increased the most over the past two years. Cost per acre in that region was up $1.20.

South Texas pasture rent rates declined the most in the state, falling from $5.80 per acre in 2017 to $5.40 per acre in 2019.

The statewide average is up 20 cents to $6.80 per acre.

Irrigated rent
The statewide average paid to rent irrigated cropland rose $5 over the past two years to $92 per acre.

Rental rates in northeast Texas rose the most, $10.50, to $61.50 per acre.

But despite the rise, farmers in that area did not pay the most to rent irrigated land in Texas.

That distinction went to farmers in the Northern High Plains where the cost to rent irrigated cropland averaged $110 an acre.

That’s up $6 from 2017.

Farmers in the Cross Timbers paid the least to rent irrigated cropland this year with the average per acre price coming in at $45 an acre.

That’s $8 per acre lower than two years ago—the largest rental rate decline in the state.

Dryland
Non-irrigated cropland rose, on average, $2 per acre statewide to $30 an acre.

Farmers in the Coastal Bend paid the most at $62 per acre, while farmers in the Cross Timbers paid the least at $17.50 per acre.

The Southern High Plains saw the highest rise in rent payments for non-irrigated crop land this year.

The average rent there was up $4 an acre to $36.50 an acre.

Cropland rental rates—both irrigated and non-irrigated—include acres cut for hay.

No regions saw a decline in dryland rental rates this year. Data was incomplete and unreported for southeast Texas and the Trans-Pecos regions.

The data for the cash rental rates survey was collected by NASS February through July of this year.

The complete report is available here.

Click here for county-level estimates.