Crop price weakness blamed for sliding farmland prices
The drop in land prices in Iowa, the top US corn and soybean growing state, identified by university research may be more widespread, another survey has revealed, showing drops in other major agricultural states too.Creighton University said that a farmland price index it updates monthly had shown value falls for a 13th successive month, coming in with a figure of 38.6 for December.While above November's 30.0 reading, it remained below the 50.0 level which indicates a flat market.The reading reflected "much weaker crop prices", which "continue to take the air out of the bubble in agricultural land prices", said Ernie Goss, the Creighton economics professor in charge of the survey, which showed prices falling in a range of states, including Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.However, a few states, notably Missouri and North Dakota, had escaped the downward trend, and were showing accelerating price growth, the data showed.'We have seen a peak'The Creighton data followed hours after Iowa State University estimated average farm prices in the state falling by 8.9% to $7,943 an acre this year – the biggest decline since 1986.Iowa State University also attributed the drop in state values, only the fourth annual decline since the 1982-86 US land price crash, to lower crop prices....MORE
