April 4, 2022  

The graphic below, provided by the Kansas City Federal Reserve, depicts the year over year non-irrigated cropland price increases at the end of December in selected grain belt states. As has been discussed in many venues recently, sales prices of farmland saw a very significant jump in 2021 with much of the increase coming during the last six months of the year. The start of 2022 seemed a bit calmer, but again started to show increasing land prices which escalated due to the war in Ukraine. As we close the first quarter of 2022, the question is how much farmland prices have increased. 

Buyers have been aggressive bidders on the farmland that has come up for sale in the past few months. As always, farmers remain the predominate buyers when purchasing good cropland. Investors are also stepping up in some areas to be more aggressive while farmland investment funds stay focused on value buying. The supply of land for sale has declined from the last part of 2021 to a more normal winter availability. Strong demand coupled with a lower supply continues to support land prices.  

Several record land prices have been set across the country. For example, Farmers National Company recently sold a farm in Northwest Missouri at auction for $14,600 per acre which was well above local expectations. Additional record sale prices for bare farmland have been obtained in other states and regions.    

The upcoming survey of land value changes taken by Federal Reserve Districts will shed light on the increases in cropland sales prices that took place the first quarter of 2022. Don't be surprised by another sizable increase in farmland values.    

 
Randy Dickhut  

Senior Vice President - Real Estate Operations 

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