Ames, Iowa — The annual Iowa State University survey released on December 13th finds the average price of an acre of farmland set a record again at 11-thousand-411 dollars.
ISU’s Wendong Zhang oversees the survey.
Zhang says the inflation-adjusted farmland value was a nearly nine percent increase, which is also a record.
He says overall medium quality ground rose the most at 17-point-seven percent, the high-quality ground rose about 17 percent, and the low-quality ground rose 15 percent. Each county saw an increase.
Zhang says landowners are happy to see an increase in their land value, but do wonder how long it will last.
Zhang says commodity prices are the number one reason those in the survey say land values have increased as everyone was thinking four-dollar a bushel of corn would be good, and nobody was expecting corn to get to six and seven dollars. He says there are several reasons for that rise, including the conflict in Ukraine.
He says corn and beans aren’t the only commodities seeing the impact.
He says this has shown up in the increased growth in land values in the northwest part of the state as there’s a significant presence of cattle producers and, to a lesser extent, hogs. He says producers need to have land to spread manure on for nutrient management purposes, so they are more aggressive in bidding on nearby grounds.
