Amherst County, Virginia
Amherst County, VA: non-irrigated cash rent $26 an acre (2026); land and buildings $5,795 an acre in the 2022 census. Bids, weather, crops, land and programs for one county. County averages from public records, not an appraisal of any farm. FIPS 51009. Figures as of Oct 19, 2026; the rows marked with a date load the newest reading when the page opens.
Stands out against its own record
With half the county or more in severe drought (D2) or worse in 2026 so far, more than any full year since 2000.
U.S. Drought Monitor weekly maps, 2000 to 2026 (40 maps this year)
As of Oct 16, cropland rent in Amherst County runs $26 an acre for 2026, up 8.3% from $24 in 2016. That sits well under the state median of $47 and ranks 4th lowest of 86. The census value of land and buildings tells a different story at $5,795 an acre in 2022, up 24.5% from $4,654 in 2017 and 26th highest of 86. 28% of farmland here was rented in 2022.
VA median $47 · 4th lowest of 86
VA median $4,596 · 26th highest of 86
VA median $8.45 · 3rd highest of 67
VA median 33% · 31st lowest of 90
Grain and prices within 50 miles
Bids are posted elevator prices within 50 miles of the county middle, or of your own field or saved place in this county when this device has one (each row says which), best and nearest, never a buyer's name. Not a contract; call before you haul. Livestock lines show where the 2022 Census counts 1,000 head or more: milk for milk cows, feeder cattle for beef cows, live cattle for cattle on feed, hogs for hogs, hay for all cattle.
Weather and the season
Rain so far this year in Amherst County, Virginia
Drought, year by year
Weeks per year, U.S. Drought Monitor, with half the county or more in D2 (severe) drought or worse.
Crops
Corn yield
Land rent, value, sales
Cash rent
Dollars per acre, USDA NASS county survey. A break in a line is a year with no published survey.
Every published Virginia county rate, side by side: Virginia cash rent by county.
Land value
The census value is this county's, from 2022. The survey figures are the Virginia average for 2026, from the USDA NASS Land Values report. NASS publishes that survey by state, not by county, so this page does not scale one into the other.
Programs and risk
Benchmarks, payments and the choice for each crop: ARC or PLC in Amherst County.
Insuring pasture or hay? PRF rainfall insurance for pasture and hay in Amherst County: its grids, county values and record are on the county PRF page.
Crop insurance record
Claims paid divided by total premium (the farmer share plus the federal subsidy), each closed crop year since 1989 with at least $1,000,000 of premium; a year under that has no bar and no ratio. Above the dashed line, the county's insurance book paid out more than it took in. 2026, still open, is left out.
Conservation Reserve Program
Acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, USDA FSA, by fiscal year.
What farms here look like
USDA Census of Agriculture 2022, except wells (state well register) and power (EIA Form 860).
Next door
| County | Dry rent | Land value | Claims per $100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amherst County | $26 | $5,795 | $44.05 |
| Appomattox County | $33 | $3,591 | $15.09 |
| Bedford County | $28 | $5,539 | $25.43 |
| Campbell County | $32 | $3,656 | $29.15 |
| Lynchburg City | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Nelson County | $40 | $5,566 | $32.86 |
| Rockbridge County | $33 | $5,763 | $7.24 |
| Median next door | $33 | $5,539 | $25.43 |
Counties that share a stretch of boundary. A rent from an older survey year carries its year and stays out of the median; one more than three survey years old shows n/a.
Not on this page yet
- This year's growing degree days and first fall freeze for the county. The normals above are here; the current year is not yet.
- County crop condition and harvest pace. USDA publishes them by state, not by county, so the state line stands in.
- Recorded farm sale prices. We read county deed records for Illinois and Wisconsin so far, not Virginia.
- Number of farms and farm size, from the 2022 Census of Agriculture county tables.
- Soils, slope, wetlands and flood zones for one field. Those load at the field in Field Scout, not on a county page.
Cite this page
AGSIST Farmland Atlas. Amherst County, Virginia. Figures as of Oct 19, 2026, from USDA NASS, USDA RMA, USDA FSA, the U.S. Drought Monitor and NOAA. https://agsist.com/farmland-atlas/virginia/amherst-countyEvery figure is a county average from the sources named below. Rent ranks count every county with a published rent in the same survey year, within the state (the same counties as the state rent page); other ranks count counties with 10,000 acres or more in farms. 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.
This product uses the NASS API but is not endorsed or certified by NASS. Averages, trends, ranks and estimates are calculations by AGSIST.
Rent: USDA NASS Cash Rents Survey, county. Land value: Census of Agriculture, operators' estimate of land and buildings. Yield: NASS county corn yields. The headline trend, the one rent per bushel uses, is fitted here over the published years in the 15 years ending this year; the yearly trend card uses 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. Claims paid per $100 of coverage: claims divided by liability (the insured value), times 100, same source. 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 missing figure is named with its reason (in a table it reads n/a).