Farmland values fall in 2015

The value of farmland in north central Iowa fell more than any other Iowa region in 2015, according to an annual Iowa State University study.
     The Farmland Value Survey, released in December, uses opinion results gathered by the university’s Center for Agriculture and Rural Development along with U.S. Census of Agriculture’s data to measure trends in land prices.
     North central Iowa’s values fell 6.7 percent between November 2014 and November 2015, the largest drop of nine statewide regions. It exceeded the statewide average of a 3.9 percent drop to $7,633 per acre.
     The region includes Kossuth, Winnebago, Worth, Mitchell, Humboldt, Hancock, Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Wright, Franklin and Butler counties. Its 2015 weighted average is $7,962 per acre, a decrease from recent years but still the fourth-highest total since 1998. 

     Read the full article in the January 6 edition of the Hampton Chronicle.