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Nebraska · NE

Sell your land in Nebraska.

Nebraska put a ban on corporate farm ownership into its constitution in 1982. A federal court struck it down, and the ownership rules that matter now point somewhere else entirely — at who is buying. Water is the other constraint, and it is set by the local natural resources district rather than by the state.

Selling farmland in Nebraska happens under restrictions that outlived Initiative 300, which the Eighth Circuit struck down in 2006. Foreign ownership legislation is broadly drafted. Natural Resources Districts both tax and regulate groundwater, and agricultural land is assessed at 75 percent of actual value.

Tax sale type
Tax lien
Redemption window
3 years before deed
Rate on redemption
14% annual interest
Closings handled by
Title company
Nebraska tax sale and closing at a glance
NebraskaWhat applies
Tax sale typeTax lien
Redemption window3 years before deed
Rate on redemption14% annual interest
Closing conducted byTitle company

Redemption runs at different stages in different states — before a sale in some, after it in others, and not at all in a few. The sections below set out how it works in Nebraska, and where they and this table describe different clocks, the sections are the precise account.

Last reviewed

Figures describe Nebraska generally. Counties administer their own sales and their own calendars — your county treasurer is the only source for a payoff figure or a sale date you can act on.

Local detail

What actually matters about land in Nebraska

Can a corporation own Nebraska farmland?

Nebraska voters adopted Initiative 300 in 1982, writing into Article XII of the state constitution a prohibition on corporations and non-family limited partnerships acquiring farm or ranch land or engaging in farming. It did not survive federal review. In Jones v. Gale, 470 F.3d 1261, the Eighth Circuit held in 2006 that the measure discriminated against interstate commerce and violated the dormant Commerce Clause, affirming the district court; the Supreme Court declined review in 2007. Nebraska has had no enforceable corporate farming restriction since. An LLC, a trust or a corporation may hold Nebraska farmland; the live question is now the buyer's nationality, not its legal form.

What are Nebraska's foreign farmland ownership rules?

The Foreign-Owned Real Estate National Security Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-3701 to 76-3717, took effect January 1, 2025. Section 76-3703 bars a nonresident alien or foreign corporation from purchasing, acquiring title to or taking any Nebraska real estate, or any leasehold interest running more than five years, with a narrow carve-out tied to the CFIUS excepted foreign state list and divestment ordered under section 76-3712. Practitioners have flagged that the definitions reach wider than the title suggests: nonresident alien is written by reference to persons who are not citizens, nationals or lawful permanent residents, which can sweep in ordinary American entities. Confirm how your buyer is organized.

What do Nebraska Natural Resources Districts control?

Nebraska is divided into 23 natural resources districts. LB 1357, enacted in 1969, folded 154 special-purpose entities into 24 districts that began operating July 1, 1972; a 1989 merger produced the current 23. Their boundaries follow river basins, their boards are locally elected, and they levy property tax. Under the Nebraska Ground Water Management and Protection Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. 46-739 lets a district adopt controls in a designated management area: allocating the groundwater a user may withdraw, rotation systems, well spacing tighter than the state standard, required flow meters, reductions in certified irrigated acres, limits on expanding them, and approval requirements for transfers. Certified acres, not deeded acres, decide what a pivot can water.

How is Nebraska agricultural land assessed?

Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-201 values most real property in Nebraska at 100 percent of actual value but agricultural and horticultural land at 75 percent, and at 50 percent for school district bond taxes approved after January 1, 2022. The classification is not automatic: the county assessor decides whether a parcel is devoted to agricultural or horticultural use, and a change of use changes the number. The certificate route has a ceiling worth knowing. Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1837 permits a treasurer's tax deed only where 110 percent of assessed value, less the amount needed to redeem, is 25,000 dollars or less; above that the holder must foreclose the lien under section 77-1902.

Questions

Selling land in Nebraska

Can a corporation or out-of-state LLC buy Nebraska farmland?

Yes. Initiative 300, the 1982 constitutional ban on corporate and non-family-partnership ownership of Nebraska farm and ranch land, was held unconstitutional in Jones v. Gale, 470 F.3d 1261, where the Eighth Circuit ruled in 2006 that it violated the dormant Commerce Clause; the Supreme Court declined review in 2007. No enforceable corporate farming restriction has replaced it. The live constraint is the Foreign-Owned Real Estate National Security Act at Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-3701 and following, which turns on nationality rather than on business form.

Do certified irrigated acres transfer with the land?

Generally yes, but the district controls whether they can move or expand. Certified irrigated acres are an administrative record kept by the natural resources district rather than an interest recorded in the deed, and Neb. Rev. Stat. 46-739 authorizes a district to require approval before groundwater uses, certified uses or irrigated acres are transferred, and to reduce or cap them inside a management area. Rules differ across the 23 districts. Ask the district office to confirm the certified acres, the allocation and any meter or reporting duty before pricing.

Does Nebraska require a disclosure statement for vacant land?

No. Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-2,120 requires a written seller property condition disclosure statement only for residential real property, which the section defines as real property used primarily for residential purposes on which no fewer than one and no more than four dwelling units are located. Bare ground has no dwelling unit and falls outside it. The same section exempts foreclosure and trustee sales, court-ordered transfers, and transfers between spouses or lineal descendants. A seller still cannot misstate what they know.

Nebraska primary sources

Sources for the figures above

These are secondary references, accurate enough to orient you and not a substitute for the statute or your county. Tax procedure changes; nothing here is legal advice.

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Nebraska law, tax procedure and county practice vary and they change. Nothing here is legal or tax advice about your parcel. Before you act on a deadline, confirm it with the county or with an attorney in that state. See our editorial standards for how this is researched and how to tell us if something is wrong.

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