Greetings! It was a fairly active week for Iowa land auctions. There were 1,178 gross acres offered at auction. Of those acres, 1,076 acres were tillable. The market appears to be very stable if not getting stronger. One farm sold in western Iowa north of $200 / tillable CSR point. Another auction in central Iowa brought north of $15,000 / acre for a 160-acre tract. There was one “no sale” farm auction last week. I would argue that the land market has picked up the past 30 to 45 days. A common theme I am hearing is that corn yields are averaging 30 bushels / acre better than expected. I am also hearing in some Iowa counties that farmers are receiving payments of $70 / acre +/- from, ARC (Agricultural Risk Coverage). With that said, farmers have more money in their pocket than what they were expecting before harvest. November will be a very active month for land auctions here in Iowa. I am expecting the market to continue to gain strength. We will see.

Please take a look at our September auction results. Check back next week for the dirt on weekly land prices.

Talk to you soon!

Jim Rothermich
Certified General Appraiser
Peoples Company Appraisal Team