Farmland Values Accelerate Between 2020-2022
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Farmland values have risen sharply in recent years but only in certain parts of the country. The economists at Agricultural Economic Insights compiled numbers to find out where the biggest changes have taken place. David Widmar of AEI says they put together the changes in farmland values across rural America between 2020 and 2022.
Widmar… “There's sort of a bullseye when you look at the middle of the country. Kansas stands out with a 42 percent increase in cropland values over those two years. That's a huge change in equity, a huge change in asset values. And then, as you work your way out of Kansas, we see big changes in Nebraska, South Dakota as well, also Iowa, and then we see the rest of the Corn Belt.”
Widmar says farmland values increased at a much smaller rate in other parts of the country like the southwest and southeast. But, he says, looking back over the last ten years, the increase in farmland values accelerated from 2020 - 2022.
Widmar… “Those farmland values have gone up over the last decade, but most of those appreciations are from the last two years. And so, that differential, I think, is what's surprising even when you move around the Great Plains. So, we had some point 7.9 percent in South Dakota but had 3.7 percent in Texas. So yes, agriculture is different. Yes, geography is different, but you can see some pretty big differences just moving around states that maybe your neighbors or maybe seem like they'd be in a similar region.”
David Widmar of Agricultural Economic Insights.
