A survey of 14 Minnesota counties shows a 6.4% increase in farmland values over the previous annum.
By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com, Image via Pixabay.com
Presented for comparison only, an annual survey of 14 southwest Minnesota county’s farmland shows that values are on the rise.
Conducted by the University of Minnesota Extension, the survey utilized sales data on bare farms and more for look at sales over the first six months of the years 2016 through 2021.
Although a record high in farmland value occurred in 2013, it began a downward trend in 2014 for the counties of: Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, Martin, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone, Redwood, Rock, Watonwan, and Yellow Medicine.
That downward turn continued through 2017, when in 2018 it began to recover.
- 2016 value: $6,751
- 2017 value: $6,340
- 2018 value: $6,589
- 2019 value: $6,576
- 2020 value: $6,371
- 2021 value: $6,780
As you can, the 2021 average value for farmland per acre is the highest it has been in six years, with an average increase across all counties at 6.4 percent.
It should be noted that although there was an average increase, the four counties of Cottonwood, Jackson, Martin and Rock each experienced a drop in farmland value from 2020 values. Martin had the largest drop in value—15.9 percent.
However, with a whopping increase of 64 percent, Lincoln County picked up the slack, while Pipestone had the highest average sales price at $9,008 per acre.
Lac qui Parle had the lowest valued farmland at $4,719/acre.
Why the discrepancies? The obvious culprits are: farm incomes, grain prices realized by type, interest rates, return on other investments, and more.
Another reason to consider is that the survey examined all farmland sales over a six-month span per year—which means a county may only have had a single low value sale to drop its farm land evaluation result. Conversely, there might have been two high value sales that could have skewed a result for another county.
It is wise to consider, however, that along with the number of sales per county, land location and quality of land does play a large role in a land’s actual value.
Having noted that, the 14 counties—in total—did see a 6.4 percent increase in sales, relative to the usual annual sales of one to two percent.