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Nebraska farmland values jump 14%

A University of Nebraska-Lincoln study shows the state’s agricultural land values now average $3,835 an acre. 

Economist Jim Jansen at the college’s Center for Agricultural Profitability tells Brownfield that the average price is up 14% over 2021. “Throughout the entire state of Nebraska, we’ve seen the market value of land rise anywhere from say three to five percent all the way up to the high teens or even twenty or low twenty percent range for the different types of land we have in our state.”

Jansen says in 2021, the average value for land jumped 16% putting land costs 30% higher than just two years ago.  He says people look to tangible assets like land as an investment when there are inflation concerns. “That was one of the driving forces why people are purchasing land, is they’re looking at land as an investment, a long-term investment. Some people refer to it as a purchase for the family’s legacy.”

Jansen says hayland or native grassland commonly used by the grazing or cow-calf industry saw about a 17% price increase and dryland with irrigation potential up about 16%.  He says irrigated cropland had the smallest increase but remains the most valuable per acre.

Similarly, an Iowa State University study at the end of 2022 shows Iowa farmland prices appreciated nearly 17%.