(Atlantic) The latest Iowa farmland value survey shows a 29% increase in farmland values this year to an average statewide value of $9,751 per acre, the highest such value recorded by Iowa State University since it began its survey in 1941. The last time farmland values increased more than 25% in a year was in 2011, when values rose 32.5% due to surging ethanol demand and high commodity prices.
Pete Smith, President of Smith Land Service in Atlantic, says farmland values in Cass County jumped 27.3 percent, Pottawattamie showed an increase of 26.7 percent, Adair County values jumped 27-percent, Montgomery County Farmland values increased 24-percent. Audubon and Shelby County farmland values increased 30-percent.
The survey indicated 68-percent of the buyers were existing farmers, two percent of the sales were re-locating farmers, and 25-percent of the sales went to investors.
Smith attributes the significant price jump to high yields and high commodity prices, historic low-interest rates, and supply and demand. Smith says several factors could be harmful to farmland values moving forward.
Smith says 80-percent of the survey respondents predict an increase in farmland values one year and five years from now.
