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Chicago Fed says farmland values remain strong

The Chicago Fed says farmland values showed the highest year-over-year gain in eight years for the second quarter, up 14 percent.

Values for all states reporting in the district, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin were up double digits for the quarter, with Iowa topping out at an 18 percent increase.

Senior business economist David Oppedahl says seventy percent of bankers in the regular survey expect high farmland values to continue into the third quarter.  “Pretty strong, bullish kind of report for farmland values,” he says.

Credit conditions are also better than last year.

Oppedahl says rising prices and government payments have supported strong economic positions of producers.  “The increase in prices from June a year ago for corn was 90 percent, for soybeans 74 percent, and hogs were double the price they were a year ago,” he says.

The Chicago Fed expects farm revenues for corn and soybeans this year to be higher than in 2020.