Iowa farmland values fell by 9 percent this year, the largest decline since 1986 during the agricultural recession, pulled down by falling commodity prices, said an Iowa State University survey. It was only the second decline in land values since 1999. The record was set last year, $8,716 an acre. Land prices are now the third highest on record.
“I think we have seen a peak for the time being,” said Mike Duffy, who has conducted the Iowa Land Survey for years, in a statement. “Commodity prices and farm income are settling back to more expected levels, and I think land values will probably move sideways for a while.” Duffy’s results were similar to those of the Chicago Federal Reserve and Realtors Land Institute.
Average value for an acre of Iowa farm land is $7,943, a drop of $773 from 2013. Values are highest in the northwestern corner of the state, where three counties top $10,000 an acre, and in urbanizing Scott County on the Mississippi River in east-central Iowa. Decatur County, on the border with Missouri in southern Iowa, has the lowest average value, $3,587.