Northwest Iowa — The annual Iowa State University farmland survey finds the value of an acre of Iowa farmland dropped three-point-nine percent compared to last year, while farmland values in northwest Iowa bucked that trend.
Iowa State University extension economist Wendong Zhang says that means the average acre of land is worth 310 dollars less.
He says it is the first two-year drop in land values since 2000, and values have now fallen almost 13 percent from the historically high 2013 values.
He says the decline is lower because of the previous years of higher commodity prices.
Zhang says that our area here in northwest Iowa is the only area of the state that didn’t see farmland values drop. In fact, in October an 80.5 acre tract near Boyden sold for a record price of $21,900 per acre.
Zhang says the drops in land value in other parts of the state the last two years could be expected.
Zhang says many are looking to what will happen with interest rates to see what might happen in the next year with land values as he says the predictions are that commodity prices will stay at their current level.
