U.S. farmland values are holding strong despite high interest rates and lower commodity prices.
In central and southern Illinois specifically land value increased nearly 7.5% compared to last year. The country’s average year-over-year percentage changes across the four land classes ranged from nearly 4-14%.
While those values have held strong so far, next year could look much different with farm income expected to drop and high interest rates and higher cash rents expected.
House Republicans may attempt to attach several bills looking to address the purchasing of U.S. farmland by foreign adversaries on a must-pass funding measure.
If not passed by the end of the month, the U.S. could face another partial government shutdown. Congressman Dan Newhouse says that it is a matter of national security.
According to Newhouse, “The People’s Republic of China is only interested in reaping every possible benefit from U.S. land without giving back or considering our future... The U.S. cannot become dependent on our adversaries for our domestic food supply.”
Newhouse sits on the select committee on the Chinese Communist Party. The chair of that committee, Congressman John Moolenaar is opposed to a Chinese EV battery firm’s land buy in Michigan.
“Gotion is a Chinese-based company that is buying farmland,” Moolenaar states. “It is a hundred miles from a National Guard location where a lot of training is done.”
China is believed to own a few hundred thousand acres of U.S. farmland, some of it near U.S. military facilities.
