Farm manager confirms high land prices

Farmland is the Midwest is selling at the highest prices ever, despite the drought in many areas and the lingering effects of economic recession. Lee Vermeer is V-P of real estate operations with Farmers National Company, a firm that manages farms and ranches and handles many sales of farmland. The real-estate market for farms and ranches has been very strong for the past couple years, up 8-percent a year ago in Iowa and nine-percent this past year. Vermeer cites a couple factors that are letting land values in many areas reach record highs.Low interest rates are helping cash flow and helps farmers buy more acres if they want because theirinterest payments on a loan are lower. Vermeer says the last couple years, crop prices have been another factor that helps support the price of farmland. In Iowa in particular, he says we’ve had good soybean and corn yields and despite the recent scare in the cattle market, those prices have been very strong for two years. Who benefits the most from high land values? Those who already own it, and find their equity’s grown. Vermeer says people who lost money in the stock market in recent years are looking at investing in land, since it’s a solid value at eight-percent increase on their dollars.