The average value of Iowa farmland dropped nearly 6-percent over last year. That’s according to the Iowa State University annual survey that ran from November of 2015 to November of 2016. ISU Assistant Professor of Ag Economics Wendong Zhang says that’s the third year in a row farmland values have dropped in Iowa, something that hasn’t occurred since the 1980s.

He says the drop in net farm income nationally, along with low commodity prices, led to Iowa’s decline in farmland values.

Zhang predicts farmland values in Iowa will continue to slide, but gradually.

Zhang says one positive factor is that Iowa farmers increased their financial reserves during the bull market and land boom that preceded the current drop in crop prices.