Can land be used as equity for another purchase?

[Ray Morrison]

I own a 5 acre lot in upstate New York. I will at some point build on it. But for now, it's just sitting there. It's paid off and I wanted to know if there is a way to use the equity to purchase a small rental property? Its currently worth about 35% less that what I paid for it, so I don't want to take the loss and sell. Is there a way to utilize the value of this lot ?(aside from selling or building a house on it).