A 481-acre farm in Dallas County, Iowa, sold at auction in early August for a combined $5,849,610, averaging $12,154 per acre.

When Larry Consbruck retired from farming in 2014, he decided not to sell the 1,100 acres he owned and operated just outside the south central Nebraska towns of Juniata and Roseland. Instead, he leased the land to his nephew, a young farmer who wanted to farm but didn't have land of his own.

Every three months, the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank releases a snapshot of farmland values and agricultural credit conditions across its Seventh Federal Reserve District, which includes Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The latest survey shows farmland values were essentially unchanged during the second quarter of 2026. Are Farmland Values Staying Flat in the Midwest? According to the Chicago Fed, farmland values across the five-state region were unchanged in the second...

Carroll County, Iowa, farm that sold in July for $16,900 per acre. Photo courtesy: Adam Pick, Farmers National Company. An 80-acre tract of farmland in Carroll County, Iowa, sold in mid-July for a price that topped many recent comparable sales in the area. The 79.2-acre farm brought $16,900 per acre, or $1,338,480 total, during a live auction on July 14. Adam Pick of Farmers National Company said the property, located just outside Glidden, had several factors working in its favor. “This farm...

Every land sale tells a story. Sometimes it’s a stocked lake that took years to build. Sometimes it’s world-class soils, a rare large tract, or a location where land rarely comes up for sale. American Farmland Owner examined four notable land sales from 2026 and highlighted what made each property unique and what the final sale price says about land values in today’s agricultural economy. While these four farms are different in many ways, they shared an important characteristic: each offered...

Farm in Edwards County, Illinois. Photo courtesy of Kurtz Auction & Realty. A 1,277-acre farm in southeastern Illinois sold for nearly $10.5 million during a July 9 auction after being divided into 22 tracts. The property, located near West Salem and Albion, brought a total of $10,500,000 averaging $8,222 per acre. The auction was managed by Jason Blue of Kurtz Auction & Realty, who said it was the largest property he has handled this year. Despite the size of the sale, and the unusually high...

Image Courtesy: Whitetail Properties Real Estate A nearly $1.5 million recreational property in northeast Missouri sold in just a few weeks this spring, offering another sign that demand for quality hunting and recreational land remains strong across the state. The 122.6-acre property in Pike County, near Bowling Green, checked many of the boxes today's recreational buyers are looking for: excellent hunting ground, tillable acreage, and a trail system that makes it easy to get around the...

The National Corn Growers Association has released a new report saying U.S. farmers are paying significantly more for crop inputs than Brazilian farmers, one of their biggest competitors in the global marketplace. In some cases, the report showed that U.S. farmers are paying nearly twice as much as their Brazilian counterparts. NCGA posted the report and reactions from its leaders on Wednesday. "I think there has long been a belief among U.S. farmers that we pay more for the same products...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released updated information on farmland ownership in the United States and how much of that land is rented to others. The 2024 Tenure, Ownership, and Transition of Agricultural Land (TOTAL) Survey is part of the Census of Agriculture program and is designed to provide a clearer picture of farmland ownership and management across the country. One of the report's key findings is that farmland ownership remains concentrated among older, non-operating...

It’s not often that a 34,000-acre farm hits the market. Even rarer is finding one that consists of a single, massive, contiguous landholding. That’s exactly what’s happening in central South Dakota, just outside the state capital of Pierre. Gunsmoke Ranch contiguous acres Gunsmoke Ranch, a sprawling dryland organic farming operation, is being offered through a sealed-bid process that runs through July 30th. According to Peoples Company President Steve Bruere, who is managing the sale,...

The struggles facing U.S. farmers and the agriculture industry as a whole have been well documented over the past few years. The headlines paint a picture of a sector under pressure: low commodity prices, high input costs, trade disputes, and global conflicts that continue to weigh on the bottom line of both farmers and the businesses that support them. But a recent article from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, packed with data spanning the past 25 years, offers some valuable...

A new change has impacted one of the long-standing responsibilities of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, which monitors the agricultural economy across the Midwest. The Chicago Fed's district includes some of the nation's most agriculture-intensive states: Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. Each quarter, the bank releases survey results from agricultural lenders through its AgLetter publication. These responses provide a snapshot of land values and credit conditions—two key...