Farmland values in the Chicago Fed District fell one percent from year ago levels during the second quarter of 2019 according to their latest update. Iowa’s actually went up one percent. That’s according to Iowa Farm Bureau’s Director of Ag Analytics and Research Sam Funk.
He says Iowa’s farmland values are showing better strength than the rest of the district, especially going forward.
Funk says the biggest overarching factor for how farm land values came out was due to lower commodity prices caused partially by weather extremes this year which created uncertainty for crops.
Iowa State University Extension Ag Economist Wendong Zhang says weather and trade uncertainty has put pressure on farm land values creating downward pressure.
He says most land values are determined at the local level tied to income and land availability.
The Chicago Fed District Survey covers all of Iowa and parts of Illinois and Indiana as well as southern Wisconsin and the lower peninsula of Michigan.
