Central Corn Belt Values Up 15% Over Year Ago

Mike Walsten

Central Corn Belt farmland values continue to rise but at a much slower pace, the most recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago reveals. This confirms what we've been telling LandOwner readers since earlier this year. The bank, which serves the northern two-thirds of Illinois and Indiana, all of Iowa, the lower peninsula of Michigan and southeast Wisconsin, says the value of district farmland rose 1% during the second quarter of 2012 compared to the previous quarter. Values are up 15% on a year-to-year basis.

Leading the charge to higher values is Iowa, which is up 24% on a year-ago basis and up 2% on a quarterly basis. Illinois is up 15% on an annual basis with Indiana and Wisconsin up 12% and 13%, respectively. The survey found 22% of survey respondents anticipate higher farmland values in the third quarter of 2012 and only 4% expect lower values. "The drought did not seem to have stifled all the momentum of rising agricultural land values," the bank said.

Link to the full report:
 

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