The average value of U.S. cropland is marginally higher this year, but has changed little overall since the collapse of the commodity boom early this decade, said the USDA’s annual Land Values report on Tuesday. Higher values west of the Great Plains, led by a 5.4 percent increase in California, resulted in an average U.S. cropland value of $4,100 an acre, up 1.2 percent from 2018.
Land is often is a farmer’s largest asset and collectively, real estate is 80 percent of farm assets. Stable land values have cushioned the impact of a precipitous decline in farm income since 2013 by providing a strong financial foundation for farmers and ranchers. For the past five years, cropland values have ranged between $4,030 and $4,100 an acre.
While land values rose in the West, the USDA said they fell in the Corn Belt states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio by $10 an acre, or 0.2 percent, to an average $6,360 an acre. In 2014, the region’s average was $7,000 an acre. Values dipped by 1 percent in the Lake States of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota to an average $4,760 an acre, an increase of $90 since 2014.
Most regions showed mild increases, except for falling values in the Southeast and the Lake States. Values rose by 3.7 percent in the eight states straddling the Rocky Mountains and by 5.3 percent in the three states on the Pacific coast. California had the most expensive cropland in the country, worth an average $12,830 an acre, an increase of $660 from last year.