Larger farms received highest annual energy development payments between 2011 and 2020

Energy payments to farm operations increased with the number of acres owned. These payments are compensation received by landowners for energy development such as from oil, natural gas, wind, or solar that occurs on their farmland. Researchers with USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) used USDA’s Agricultural Resource Management Survey data to find the average annual payment made for energy development between 2011 and 2020 to farm operators based on acreage owned. Those who owned more than 1,000 acres received an average yearly payment of $56,797. Those who owned fewer than 100 acres received an average of $12,351, less than a quarter of payments made to the largest farms. Higher payments to larger farms are associated with owners having large tracts of land preferred for energy development. More than 13 percent of farm landowners with greater than 1,000 acres received energy payments between 2011 and 2020, compared with less than 2 percent of landowners with fewer than 100 acres. Read more about the size, frequency, trends, and relative contribution of energy payments to farm operator income in the ERS report The Role of Commercial Energy Payments in Agricultural Producer Income, released in April 2024.