Local Land Prices at Record High Levels

Big news in the local area is land prices. The record high prices of some Nebraska farm land have the farmers talking.
Recently a farm in Clay County set a new Nebraska record for the sale of agricultural land. The 160 acre irrigated farm brought $12,000 per acre at a well attended public auction.  In January at another well attended auction parcels of land in Adams Co. sold for $11,700 and $11,800. A quarter of irrigated  agricultural land  by Bladen in Webster Co. brought $6,700 an acre.
A November auction of dryland farm south east of Blue Hill brought $3,750 an acre for land that was comparable to land purchased by the same buyer in 2007, just five years ago for $1,300 an acre, an increase of $2,450 an acre. Some estimate that farm land values have increased form 80 to 100 percent in just the last year.
There are about fifty million (50 million) acres of land in Nebraska. Of those 50 million acres it has been estimated that at least 12 million acres of this land are irrigated land that is used for corn and soybeans.
Based upon sales that had occurred prior to these record setting sales, estimates were that irrigated agricultural land had increased in value two thousand dollars ($2000) per acre. When you factor in a significant increase in value of the dry land farms, pasture land, and hay meadow land, a significant number of Nebraskans have experienced a substantial increase in perceived wealth.
High commodity prices and good crops in the last few years have put more money in farmer's pockets making it even more apparent how valuable Nebraska farmland truly is.
As one farmer put it, “They aren’t making any more of it.”