Farmland Atlas · county record

Berkeley County, West Virginia

Berkeley County, WV: non-irrigated cash rent $46 an acre (2026); land and buildings $7,055 an acre in the 2022 census; median corn yield 119.3 bu/ac. County averages from public records, not an appraisal of any farm. FIPS 54003. Figures as of 2026-09-20.

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Non-irrigated cash rent in Berkeley County, WV runs $46 per acre in 2026, up 24.3 percent from 2016. Census value of land and buildings sits at $7,055 per acre in 2022, up 31.9 percent from 2017, 5.7 percent a year. The July nightly low averaged 63.4 F under the 1991-2020 normal and 64.4 F over 2017-2026, with a warming trend of 0.61 F per decade since 1976. Heat and drought made up 20 percent of indemnities in 1989-1999, 27 percent in 2000-2009, 87 percent in 2010-2019, and 19 percent in 2020-2025. The loss ratio over 2016-2025 stands at 1.59, against 1.1 for the full 1989-2025 record, and 27 of the 1357 weeks since 2000 fell in severe drought or worse from 2021-2025 alone.

Cash rent, non-irrigated

$46/ac

2026 county average
WV median $30 · 6th highest of 30

Land and buildings

$7,055/ac

2022: what operators guessed land and buildings were worth
WV median $3,215 · 2nd highest of 47

Rent as % of land value

—

not shown: cropland is 49% of land in farms (2022 census), so the census value is mostly pasture, woods and buildings, not cropland

Corn yield, 2008–2016 median

119.3 bu/ac

9 published years

Claims paid per $100 of coverage

$22.07

2016–2025, closed crop years
WV median $14.36 · 3rd highest of 7

Farmland rented

30%

2022 census, rented from others
WV median 20% · 6th highest of 48

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$46/ac

Change 2016 to 2026+24.3%nominal, $37 to $46

Pasture, 2026$23/ac

Land value

Land and buildings, 2022$7,055/acoperators' own estimate, not a sale price

Census 2012$5,757/ac

Census 2017$5,349/ac

Change 2017 to 2022+31.9%+5.7% a year, nominal

Dry rent ÷ census value— cropland is 49% of land in farms (2022 census), so the census value is mostly pasture, woods and buildings, not cropland

Corn yield

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

Median, 2008–2016119.3 bu/ac9 published years

Lowest published year2010: 33.8 bu/ac28% of median

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$22.07

Loss ratio, 2016–20251.59claims ÷ total premium

Loss ratio, 1989–20251.10$14.8 million paid

Worst year2025ratio 3.74

Largest causes of loss, 1989–2025freeze 44% · heat and drought 25% · area plans 12%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, 2000–202557 of 1,357 weeks4% of weeks

Year with the most D2+ weeks202516 weeks

Last five years, 2021–202527 weeks

July average of daily lows, 2017–202664.4 °F1991–2020 normal 63.4 °F

Trend in July lows since 1976+0.61 °F a decadewarming

Rain, April to September22.6 in1991–2020 normal; last ten years 107% of it

Days with hail 1 inch or larger1.5 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, 20223% of cropland817 ac

Farmed no-till, 202213% of cropland3,900 ac

Cover crops, 20223% of cropland1,051 ac

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

CRP enrolled, 2025161 ac0.6% of harvested cropland + CRP

CRP expiring FY2026–2028137 ac85% of enrolled acres

CRP average rental payment, FY2025$85/acall contracts in force, old ones included; not today's offer

Solar and wind operating, 20255.8 MW solar · 0 MW windnameplate, EIA Form 860

Cattle and calves, 20227,466−31.0% since 2017

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

Next door

County	Dry rent	Land value	Corn yield	Claims per $100
Berkeley County	$46	$7,055	—	$22.07
Washington County, MD	$128	$8,668	145.1	$9.61
Frederick County, VA	$34	$7,861	136.3	$47.13
Jefferson County	$55	$7,118	—	$7.76
Morgan County	$21	$5,715	—	—
Median next door	$44	$7,490	140.7 2 co.	$9.61

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. Berkeley County, West Virginia. 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/west-virginia/berkeley-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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