The 2020 Iowa State University Land Survey showed the average value of Iowa farmland increased 1.7 percent per acre despite the uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Iowa State University Extension Economist Wendon Zhang says much lower interest rates along with high government payments were among the many factors that led to that land stability.

He says Northwest Iowa farmland had the second highest land value just behind Scott county on the eastern edge of the state.

Zhang says their survey predicts there will be stable to modest growth in land values over the next year with a 5 to 10 percent increase in the next five years.

Zhang says that farm payments in 2020 helped prop up the farmland market. The Iowa State Land Value Survey was started in 1941 and is conducted annually by Iowa State University.