How is the ongoing drought weighing on farmland sales?

Dry conditions will always impact yields at harvest, but now they are weighing on something else: the farmland real estate market.

Dry conditions will always impact yields at harvest, but now, ongoing drought conditions in some areas are also impacting the vitality of farmland sales. However, farm real estate experts say—if the quality of the land is high, the land will still sell well in the middle of a drought.

The Farmers National Company reported recent that it is seeing limited demand and limited properties being offered to the farmland real estate market right now.

“If it’s good quality, even though it’s in a drought area, it’s still producing great demand,” explained Paul Schadegg, the Senior Vice President of Real Estate Operations for Farmers National Company. “But there are some of those areas where it might be mid-to-lower quality, those are definitely struggling.”

Shadegg said, the real concern centers around the long-term value of agricultural areas that have experienced ongoing dry conditions for three years or longer.

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