Farmland sales continue to attract attention from growers

In recent weeks, we have seen a flurry of reports of record or near-record cropland prices across the Corn Belt.

On Oct. 25, an 80.47-acre tract of land in Iowa sold for $21,900 per acre. Earlier in that week, another parcel of prime Iowa farmland sold for $19,100 per acre.

In Nebraska, 1,855 acres were sold on Nov. 8 for $15.13 million or an average of $8,156.33 per acre with some parcels selling in excess of $11,000 per acre.

North Dakota saw an 80-acre parcel of sugar beet and potato farmland going for $800,000 or $10,000 an acre; it too was sold on Nov. 8.

This past week, Drovers Cattle Network reported Indiana and Ohio land sales ranging from $5,817 per acre to $11,194 per acre.

A Corn and Soybean Digest article reported, “Iowa farmland prices have risen steadily in recent years. The value of tillable land jumped an average of 7.7 percent in the state over the past six months, according to a recent farmland survey released by the Iowa Farm & Land Chapter No. 2 Realtors Land Institute. The value of Iowa cropland for potential corn production increased nearly 21.9 percent over the 12 months ended in September, according to the survey.”

“North Dakota farmland values rose an average of 14 percent in 2011, according to a survey by the North Dakota Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers,” reported a Nov. 9 article in Prairie Business.

According to Farm and Dairy, “data from the Oho Ag Statistics Service shows an increase of 13.6 percent for bare cropland in Ohio for 2012.”

The same article said, “the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank and Purdue University both conducted surveys in June 2012 and found that cropland values in Indiana had appreciated 10 percent to18.1 percent from one year ago.”