notice appears on all such copies. The Housing Boom and Its Effect on Farmland Acreage

This paper examines farmers land ownership decision to keep their farm-land or sell the acreage to a non-agricultural enterprise. The boom in housing demand during the early 21st century caused a subsequent rise in land demand by housing construction companies. This, in turn, has signif-icant effects on farmers choice to sell their farmland endowment and leave farming. Data from several public sources, including the USDA-NASS, U.S. Census, BLS, and BEA-REIS, is used to analyze the relationship of farm acreage with housing permit values. The Arellano-Bond dynamic panel estimator is used within a GMM framework to examine land own-ership behavior of forward-looking farmers. Results indicate that a rise in demand for new housing significantly influences a farmer’s behavior to transfer agricultural acreage out of farming