Indiana farmland increases in value

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — A new report from the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture shows farmland prices across Indiana have risen to all-time highs. Top quality farmland average price is $9,785 per acre, up 14% from June 2020. Purdue ag economists say even poor-quality farmland saw a price increase, up 12.1% to $6,441 per acre.

Purdue agricultural economist Todd Kuethe says a unique combination of economic forces drove the price increase.

“Net farm income, expected income growth, crop and livestock prices, interest rates, exports, inflation, alternative investments, U.S. policy, and farmers’ liquidity, all played a major factor in the price increase we’re experiencing,” said Kuethe.

He says usually one or two market forces will put pressure on farmland prices, but it is rare that all of those factors occurred.

Cash rental rates also climbed from last year. Purdue says average rental rates for top-quality farmland in Indiana climbed 3.9% to $269 per acre.