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Quality farmland fetching top dollar in southern Minnesota

Farmland values in many parts of the Midwest have risen 20 to 30 percent in the past year.

Wayne Schoper, a farm business management instructor with South Central College in Mankato, says quality ground is fetching $10,000 to $12,000 an acre in south-central Minnesota.

“Let’s just say a good parcel with drainage, some native fertility, kind of a generally good soil type.”

He tells Brownfield the current farmland market reminds him of 2012.

“Very strong corn and soybean prices, we saw land values escalate. And I remember the summer of 2012, we were seeing land come in (with) around $11,500 kind of a going price for a while there. And then we gradually kind of settled down.”

Schoper says a combination of farmers and outside investors have been buying up the bulk of available land.

Schoper made these comments during Brownfield affiliate KNUJ’s Farm Forum Friday.