The USDA’s 2017 Land Values Summary shows that the average acre of American cropland is worth $4,090. That’s unchanged from last year and the third-highest in history. Pastureland values increased by $20 from last year to a national average of $1,350. That’s the highest value for pastureland USDA has ever recorded. The Southern Plains states of Texas and Oklahoma saw the biggest increase in their cropland values, which went six percent higher. The Northern Plains states of Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas dropped 4.4 percent in value from last year. Over half the states with irrigated cropland saw the values increase. Texas saw its irrigated cropland value jump more than seven percent from last year, followed by a six percent jump in Louisiana. Kansas and Nebraska irrigated cropland fell five percent in value from last year. Pastureland values in the Delta Region, including Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, saw the biggest jump of three percent from 2016. The Corn Belt saw the biggest decrease in pastureland value of 1.7 percent from last year.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.