Yeah, I think it would have been more useful if the Tribune had been able to determine "how many people are farming on land which they do not own" whether directly or through an LLC/company.

The amount of land owned by "out of state" owners may help answer this question but they don't give a number for that either. (A local farmer could also register their LLC out of state though I'm not sure whether that's beneficial or not.)

Setting up an LLC as foreign to the state you're living in likely won't save you on fees (since you'll register it as a foreign entity in your own state, especially for holding title to real estate), but it can open up additional features not offered by your state's laws, like series LLCs. Although as far as I know it's an open question as to whether the protections of Series LLCs will be respected by other states or just discarded when you try to use them.

(I'm not a member of any guilds)