Farmland Atlas · county record

Mason County, West Virginia

Mason County, WV: non-irrigated cash rent $103 an acre (2026); land and buildings $2,972 an acre in the 2022 census; median corn yield 138.0 bu/ac. County averages from public records, not an appraisal of any farm. FIPS 54053. Figures as of 2026-09-20.

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Non-irrigated cash rent in Mason County runs $103 per acre in 2026, up 24.1 percent from 2014. Land value stood at $2,972 per acre in 2022, up 22.3 percent from 2017, 4.1 percent a year. The loss ratio over 2016-2025 was 0.81, compared with 0.63 across the full 1989-2025 record. Irrigation covers 1 percent of harvested cropland, and no solar or wind capacity is operating or proposed here.

Cash rent, non-irrigated

$103/ac

2026 county average
WV median $30 · highest of 30

Land and buildings

$2,972/ac

2022: what operators guessed land and buildings were worth
WV median $3,215 · 18th lowest of 47

Rent as % of land value

—

not shown: cropland is 30% of land in farms (2022 census), so the census value is mostly pasture, woods and buildings, not cropland

Corn yield, 2008–2016 median

138.0 bu/ac

9 published years

Claims paid per $100 of coverage

$7.11

2016–2025, closed crop years
WV median $14.36 · lowest of 7

Farmland rented

24%

2022 census, rented from others
WV median 20% · 11th 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$103/ac

Change 2014 to 2026+24.1%nominal, $83 to $103

Pasture, 2026$19/ac

Land value

Land and buildings, 2022$2,972/acoperators' own estimate, not a sale price

Census 2012$2,114/ac

Census 2017$2,430/ac

Change 2017 to 2022+22.3%+4.1% a year, nominal

Dry rent ÷ census value— cropland is 30% 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, 2008–2016138.0 bu/ac9 published years

Lowest published year2012: 123.3 bu/ac89% 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$7.11

Loss ratio, 2016–20250.81claims ÷ total premium

Loss ratio, 1989–20250.63$3.4 million paid

Largest causes of loss, 1989–2025heat and drought 51% · excess moisture 38% · price decline (revenue policies) 7%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, 2000–202536 of 1,357 weeks3% of weeks

Year with the most D2+ weeks200718 weeks

Last five years, 2021–202516 weeks

July average of daily lows, 2017–202664.8 °F1991–2020 normal 63.9 °F

Trend in July lows since 1976+0.33 °F a decadeno clear direction

Rain, April to September24.4 in1991–2020 normal; last ten years 100% of it

Days with hail 1 inch or larger0.9 a yearreports, 2010–2025; a zero is no report, not proof of no hail

Land, water and programs

Harvested cropland irrigated, 20221%

Drained by tile, 202219% of cropland7,069 ac

Farmed no-till, 202226% of cropland9,655 ac

Cover crops, 20228% of cropland2,834 ac

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

CRP enrolled, 2025320 ac1.1% of harvested cropland + CRP

CRP expiring FY2026–202880 ac25% of enrolled acres

CRP average rental payment, FY2025$179/acall contracts in force, old ones included; not today's offer

Cattle and calves, 202211,593−0.9% since 2017

Farmland rented from others, 202224%census tenure, owned plus rented acres in farms

Next door

County	Dry rent	Land value	Corn yield	Claims per $100
Mason County	$103	$2,972	—	$7.11
Gallia County, OH	$63	$3,625	148.1	$11.80
Meigs County, OH	$55 2025	$3,816	143.5	$13.09
Cabell County	$21 2024	$5,367	—	—
Jackson County	$25	$2,620	—	—
Putnam County	$44 2024	$3,285	—	—
Median next door	$44 2 co.	$3,625	145.8 2 co.	$12.45 2 co.

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. Mason 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/mason-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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