Midwest Farmland Values Rose Again in the Second Quarter

Farmland values

According to the most recent AgLetter, Seventh District farmland values in the second quarter of 2023 were 9% higher than a year ago. Values for “good” agricultural land in the second quarter of 2023 were 3% higher than in the first quarter. Nine percent of survey respondents forecasted higher District farmland values during the third quarter of 2023, while 5 percent predicted lower values; the remaining 86% forecasted farmland values to be stable during the July through September period of this year.

Corn and soybean prices were lower than a year ago, even though an expanded drought threatened much of the nation’s primary growing region for these crops and uncertainties surrounded Ukraine’s grain exports. These factors, which could lower supplies (and push up prices), were offset by the large output of corn and soybeans in South America, along with a still sizable harvest anticipated for the Midwest despite the drought. The USDA estimated in July that 2023’s harvest of corn for grain would be a record 15.3 billion bushels (up 12 percent from 2022) and that this year’s harvest of soybeans would be 4.3 billion bushels (up 1 percent from 2022).

Source: ChicagoFed.org