Market News & Headlines >> Rise in Farmland Values Slows

USDA’s latest farm land values survey indicates the run-up in land values has been slowed by plunging crop prices, but certainly not halted, as it put the average value of an acre of U.S. cropland 7.6% above a year earlier.

That’s down from an increase of 13.7% in cropland values recorded during the previous year. The USDA survey, conducted during the first half of June, and released Friday afternoon, pegged the average U.S. cropland value at $4,100 per acre, up $290 from 2013, compared with an increase of $460 per acre between 2012 and 2013.

Regionally, shifts in cropland value ranged from a 13.6% rise in the Northern Plains region (Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota), to a 5.1% drop in the Mountain region (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming).

The average value of an acre of Corn Belt region (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio) cropland rose 8.2% after rising 15.5% in the previous year. Increases in Corn Belt cropland values ranged from 7.0% in Indiana to 9.4% in Iowa.

On a percentage basis, the value of U.S. pastureland was up than cropland, rising 11.1% to $1,300 per acre. The Northern Plains pasture value surged by 26.5%, with Nebraska pasture value up 40%.

The U.S. farm real estate value, a measurement of the value of all land and buildings on farms, averaged $2,950 per acre for 2014, up 8.1% from 2013. Regional changes in the average value of farm real estate ranged from a 16.3% increase in the Northern Plains to 1.1% increase in the Southeast region. The highest farm real estate values were in the Corn Belt region at $6,370 per acre.