LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska agricultural land values increased by 3% over the last year to a statewide average of $2,725 per acre, according to the final results of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s 2020 Farm Real Estate Report.
It’s the first annual increase since the average land value in the state peaked at $3,315 per acre in 2014, but lead author Jim Jansen warns it could be short-lived because the numbers come from a survey taken in February, before the coronavirus pandemic.
Jansen says the pandemic has created great uncertainty over commodity prices and government policy, and he thinks they could lead to drops in both land values and cash rents.
The survey looks at 8 different land types with the average farmland value in the Panhandle, officially the Northwest Region, up 1% at $685 an acre – although researchers emphasize values or rental rates for any individual parcel may vary depending on specific and local market factors.
Statewide, estimated dryland cropland values rose between 3-and-4%, while the values of gravity and center pivot irrigated cropland rose 1% and 3% , respectively statewode bit dropped 2-to-5% in the the Northwest and Southwest Districts
Grazing land and hayland values rose between 2% and 5%, and major cow-calf pair regions, including the Northwest, led the increase in market values with growth between 6-and-8%.