Many states in the Midwest are seeing record land prices continuing this summer and into the fall selling season. There have been strong prices for crop land in South Dakota, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. And Land in Northeast Nebraska recently brought over $ 13,000 per acre. Center for Rural Affairs Policy Director Johnathan Hladik says beginning farmers and ranchers are already having difficulty getting land to farm and ranch and these kind of prices makes it almost impossible for them to get started in the business.

He says keeping young people working in production agriculture and keeping rural communities viable is even more difficult if they aren’t able to access the land they need.

Hladik says they were able to retain the Beginning Farmer Tax Credit program in Nebraska and that’s something those starting to farm need to check out.

Another challenge beginning producers are running into when attempting to purchase land is that there’s also demand for lower quality land and prices for that is also going up.