CONTRIBUTED GRAPHIC A graphic shows the average land values across all 99 of Iowa’s counties for 2023. Marshall County saw an increase of 5.8 percent from 2022 to 2023, and the average cost of an acre is now $12,404.

Iowa State University recently released its annual land value survey for each of the state’s 99 counties, and, as is to be expected considering recent trends, the vast majority of them, including Marshall County, saw substantial increases in the average cost of an acre.

“The declining rate of increase in land values, along with falling values in select regions, is revealing a possible plateauing in the land market. The downward pressures on land values are largely attributable to interest rate hikes, lower commodity prices, increasing input prices, and weather uncertainty. At the same time, limited land supply, stronger-than-expected crop yields, readily available cash and credit, higher commodity prices earlier in the year, strong demand, including from investors, and a good farm economy supported the overall growth in Iowa land values,” the report reads. “In general, nearly half of the respondents expect modest declines in land values within the next year but are optimistic about the future of the land market, forecasting increases in five-year land values.”

According to the figures, Marshall County’s average farmland value jumped a whopping 5.8 percent from $11,728 in 2022 to $12,404 in 2023, well above the state average of a 3.7 percent increase. Overall, Marshall County, much like its geographic location, remains firmly in the middle among Iowa counties but is slightly above the state average of $11,835 per acre. The most valuable land is primarily situated in the far northwest corner of the state (Sioux County was the highest at $16,521 per acre) and the least valuable ground in the far southern region along the Missouri border, with Decatur County the lowest at $6,286 per acre.

Other T-R coverage area counties also saw increases, including Tama (5.2 percent increase to an average of $12,406 an acre), Grundy (4.3 percent increase to $14,231 an acre) and Hardin (3.3 percent increase to $13,353 an acre). Grundy County, known for its black dirt soil, has the second highest average land value among counties east of Interstate 35, behind only Scott County near the Mississippi River.

Neighboring counties to the west and south also saw pronounced increases in land value, with Jasper the largest at 8.4 percent. One somewhat surprising trend was that several of the counties in northwest Iowa that have traditionally had the highest average values actually saw decreases or only slight increases, while the biggest jumps came from the traditionally less valuable farmland in the southeast corner of the state — Appanoose, Decatur, Lucas and Wayne counties tied for the biggest increases at 12.9 percent each.

The full findings of the survey are available at https://www.card.iastate.edu/farmland/isu-survey/2023/2023-ISU-Land-Value-Survey-Overview.pdf.

——

Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

maharry@timesrepublican.com.