Farmland Atlas · county record

Lincoln County, North Carolina

Lincoln County, NC: non-irrigated cash rent $49 an acre (2026); land and buildings $8,442 an acre in the 2022 census; median corn yield 98.0 bu/ac. County averages from public records, not an appraisal of any farm. FIPS 37109. Figures as of 2026-09-20.

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Cash rent, non-irrigated

$49/ac

2026 county average
NC median $80 · tied for 16th lowest of 85

Land and buildings

$8,442/ac

2022: what operators guessed land and buildings were worth
NC median $5,711 · 11th highest of 92

Rent as % of land value

0.47%

$40 dry rent ÷ $8,442 land and buildings, both 2022

Corn yield, 2008–2022 median

98.0 bu/ac

13 published years

Claims paid per $100 of coverage

$18.24

2016–2025, closed crop years
NC median $14.91 · 24th highest of 78

Farmland rented

30%

2022 census, rented from others
NC median 35% · 38th lowest of 94

Cash rent

Dollars per acre, USDA NASS county survey. A break in a line is a year with no published survey; nothing is drawn across it.

Non-irrigated, 2026$49/ac

Change 2016 to 2026+42.6%nominal, $34 to $49

Pasture, 2026$41/ac

Land value

Land and buildings, 2022$8,442/acoperators' own estimate, not a sale price

Census 2012$5,571/ac

Census 2017$5,731/ac

Change 2017 to 2022+47.3%+8.1% a year, nominal

Dry cropland rent ÷ census value, 20220.47%$40 ÷ $8,442; cropland 51% of land in farms

Corn yield

Bushels per acre, USDA NASS county yields, all practices. The dashed line is the median of the published years.

Median, 2008–202298.0 bu/ac13 published years

Lowest published year2015: 42.6 bu/ac44% of median

Trend, 2008–2022+2.9 bu/ac a year±3.3 (95% interval)

Crop insurance record

Claims paid divided by total premium (the farmer share plus the federal subsidy), each closed crop year since 1989. Above the dashed line, the county's insurance book paid out more than it took in. 2026, still open, is left out.

Claims paid per $100 of coverage, 2016–2025$18.24

Loss ratio, 2016–20251.29claims ÷ total premium

Loss ratio, 1989–20251.47$10.3 million paid

Largest causes of loss, 1989–2025freeze 34% · heat and drought 28% · excess moisture 16%share of dollars paid

Drought and weather

Weeks per year, U.S. Drought Monitor, with half the county or more in D2 (severe) drought or worse.

D2 or worse for half the county, 2000–2025185 of 1,357 weeks14% of weeks

Year with the most D2+ weeks200240 weeks

Last five years, 2021–202512 weeks

July average of daily lows, 2017–202668.7 °F1991–2020 normal 67.4 °F

Trend in July lows since 1976+0.49 °F a decadewarming

Rain, April to September24.7 in1991–2020 normal; last ten years 107% of it

Days with hail 1 inch or larger1.3 a yearreports, 2010–2025; a zero is no report, not proof of no hail

Land, water and programs

Harvested cropland irrigated, 2022— NASS suppressed the irrigated acres to protect individual farms

Drained by tile, 2022under 1% of cropland39 ac

Farmed no-till, 202252% of cropland12,853 ac

Cover crops, 20228% of cropland1,953 ac

Acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, USDA FSA, by fiscal year.

CRP enrolled, 2025144 ac0.6% of harvested cropland + CRP

CRP expiring FY2026–202812 ac8% of enrolled acres

CRP average rental payment, FY2025$32/acall contracts in force, old ones included; not today's offer

Solar and wind operating, 202510 MW solar · 0 MW windnameplate, EIA Form 860

Cattle and calves, 202214,398−9.6% since 2017

Farmland rented from others, 202230%census tenure, owned plus rented acres in farms

Next door

County	Dry rent	Irr. rent	Land value	Corn yield	Claims per $100
Lincoln County	$49	—	$8,442	—	$18.24
Burke County	$43	$220 2023	$6,651	103.5	—
Catawba County	$47	—	$7,785	131.4	$10.63
Cleveland County	$43	—	$6,086	102.3	$11.40
Gaston County	$35	—	$8,015	—	$7.29
Iredell County	$86	—	$7,124	—	$7.99
Mecklenburg County	—	—	$27,096	—	—
Median next door	$43	—	$7,455	103.5	$9.31

Counties that share a stretch of boundary. An older rent carries its year and stays out of the median.

Cite this page

AGSIST Farmland Atlas. Lincoln County, North Carolina. Figures as of 2026-09-20, from USDA NASS, USDA RMA, USDA FSA, the U.S. Drought Monitor and NOAA. https://agsist.com/farmland-atlas/north-carolina/lincoln-county

Every figure is a county average from the sources named below. Ranks count counties with 10,000 acres or more in farms, in the same survey year for rent, within the state. Methods: how each figure is built. Downloads: all counties, CSV.

Sources, dates and arithmetic

"Figures as of" is the date this page's numbers last changed; it moves only when a figure on the page does. Source files and their retrieval dates are listed on the data page.

Rent: USDA NASS Cash Rents Survey, county. Land value: Census of Agriculture, operators' estimate of land and buildings. Yield: NASS county corn yields, trend fitted here over every published year since 2008. Loss ratio: claims (indemnity) divided by total premium, USDA RMA Summary of Business, 1989 on, open crop year left out. Drought: U.S. Drought Monitor, weeks with half the county or more in D2 or worse. July lows: NOAA nClimDiv county monthly minimum temperature. A dash means the record does not carry the figure or the source withheld it; the reason is printed beside it.

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