Ames, Iowa — An Iowa State Extension survey found that the average price of an acre of farmland dropped in 2024, breaking a five-year trend of increases.
ISU Extension economist Rabail Chandio conducts the survey and says the one trend that didn’t change is the type of people buying farmland.
Chandio says 23 percent of the farmland purchases were by investors.
Chandio says the investors in Iowa aren’t usually the institutional investors or big companies or individual big name billionaires.
The recreational purchasers are using the farmland in southern Iowa for hunting, and she says that’s why it had three-point-six percent increase in value. Chandio says Iowa farmland doesn’t usually come up for sale until the owner dies or decides to retire.
Chandio says the long-term landowners have paid it off, and that gives them some protection against economic swings.
Chandio says the high interest rates create the most pressure for beginning farmers and can really make them struggle.
