Bankers in a 10-state swath from Illinois and Iowa to Colorado and Wyoming “expect 2015 cash rents for farmland to decline to $214 per acre, down significantly from last year’s $254,” said Creighton University’s Rural Mainstreet Index. It says farmland prices were down for the 14th straight month. “Much weaker crop prices continue to take air out of the bubble in agricultural land prices,” said Ernie Goss, the Creighton professor who runs the survey.
The report quotes James Brown, CEO of Hardin County Savings Bank in Eldora, Iowa, as saying, “Cash rents are down $25 to $50 per acre in some cases, but many are closer to what they were last year. If commodity prices stay in this range there will be more significant decreases next year.”