After a few years of upward pricing, farmland values are starting to cool.
One economist says prices started to peak across farm country in the early 2020s.
“Yes, and that corresponds with that double-digit run-up in land values during that time for a lot of states, specifically the ‘I’ states, with very strong commodity prices, some good yields in a lot of places, and uncertainty in the market post-COVID, and some other things that drove the land prices higher. And the people, this would be families that inherited land, estates that needed to sell the land, or even some investors that wanted to capitalize on those higher prices. They decide to sell, and those prices run up. We saw the same thing leading up to 2012-'13,” said Randy Dickhut.
On average, land listings are down 25 percent from early 2020. Researchers at Farmers National say active farmers continue to be the primary land buyers this year.
Corn and wheat exports remain a demand bright spot, while soybeans are transitioning into a more typical late-winter shipping slowdown.
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