More Nebraska farmers and ranchers turned to mortgages to buy property last year.

This comes after cash purchases for agricultural land increased the two previous years, according to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Farm Real Estate Report.

Extension Educator Jim Jansen says mortgages become more common as cropland values rise.

He says less expensive ranch land can still be bought with cash.

Land in the Nebraska panhandle continues to be a popular among out-of-state buyers.

The latest Farm Real Estate Report shows 68-percent of all the land that non-Nebraskans bought in the state was in that area.

Jansen says it also has the lowest price per acre in the state.

The remaining land sales last year to out-of-state buyers were in the eastern third of Nebraska.