Cash rental rates for corn and soybean land in Iowa are down a cumulative 14.7 percent since 2013, according to a survey by Iowa State University. The average rate for this year, $230 an acre, is down 6.5 percent from last year’s $246 an acre.
Rental rates peaked at $270 an acre in 2013, when U.S. farm income crested in the final year of a commodity boom that began in 2006. “Despite falling for a third consecutive year at an increasing rate, the average cash rent in 2016 is the fifth-highest on record,” said ISU.
Rates fell in 85 of Iowa’s 99 counties; high-quality land showed the largest decline, 7.5 percent, to an average $270 an acre this year. Medium-quality land was down 6.9 percent and low-quality land fell 5 percent. The highest rates were across northern Iowa.
Farmland values have softened across the country with the plunge in commodity prices and farm income since 2013.