Iowa state university of science and technology shall conduct continuing agricultural research to provide information about environmental and social impacts of agricultural research on the small or family farm and information about population trends and impact of the trends on Iowa agriculture. The research shall include an agricultural land tenure study conducted every five years to determine the ownership of farmland, and to analyze ownership trends, using the categories of land ownership defined in chapter 9H. The study shall be conducted on the basis of regions established by the university. A region shall be composed of not more than twenty-three contiguous counties.