Maine Farm Land for Sale - 163 Properties (2024)

FAQs

How much is a farm in Maine? ›

The estimated market value of land and buildings for the average Maine farm rose to $649,229, the highest number since 1997 even when accounting for inflation. The average Maine farm also had its largest grossing year in 2022 compared to other census years, with $123,582 market value of agricultural products sold.

Maine offers a wealth of advantages to prospective buyers looking for affordable land. These include: Abundant natural resources. Maine is home to vast forests, diverse wildlife, and abundant lakes, rivers and streams – perfect for fishing, hunting and outdoor recreation.

Maine farmland is the foundation for thriving farm businesses, communities, and rural economies, and is necessary to ensure that more Mainers can access healthy, local food.

Investing in agricultural land can be a great opportunity to capitalize on the current market, with some states offering highly affordable farmland. North Dakota and Wyoming are two of the most cost-effective states for farming land, followed by Alabama and Kentucky.

If the property no longer qualifies as farmland, then a penalty will be assessed. The penalty is equal to the taxes that would have been paid in the last five years if the property had not been in farmland, less the taxes that were paid, plus any interest on that difference in each of the five years.

What is Maine's Law on Homestead Exemption. In Maine, “the just value of $10,000 of the homestead of a permanent resident of this State who has owned a homestead in this State for the preceding 12 months is exempt from taxation.” This is known as the homestead exemption.

The average property tax rate in Maine is 1.09%, which is only slightly higher than the national average of 0.99%.

J.D. Irving is the only industrial landowner with over a million acres owned in the state, with roughly 1.25 million acres. With 980,000 acres owned throughout the state, billionaire businessman John Malone, the second-largest landowner in the U.S., owns the second-most amount of land in Maine.

How do you qualify as a farm in Maine? ›

Eligible farmland consists of tracts of land of 5 or more contiguous acres, which produce a gross annual income of at least $2,000 per year from the sale value of farm products in 1 of 2, or 3 of 5, calendar years preceding the date of application for registration.

These include feed, 15.5 percent, farm services, 12.2 percent, livestock, poultry, and related expenses, 10.8 percent, and labor, 10.0 percent. In 2020, the United States total farm expenditure average per farm is $182,130, up 2.6 percent from $177,564 in 2019.

Farming is also a business, so you need to understand exactly how much it will cost. And it's a complicated question with no set answer. However, you can expect to spend anywhere from $600-$10K to start a small-scale farming operation. Large-scale operations can cost well over $2M to start!