Corn Belt land returns negative for a second successive quarter
...MOREThe decline in crops prices has seen farms in the key Corn Belt area offer negative returns for a second successive quarter, and in the most important period of the year, far underperforming the gains enjoyed by investors in orchards and groves.Investor returns in US farmland fell to a five-year low of 10.4% in 2015, down from 12.6% the year before, the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (Ncreif) said.The decline reflected in particular a drop in returns for the October-to-December period, which fell to a six-year low of 4.3%, from 6.6% in the same period of 2014 - for what is seasonally the strongest quarter.The close of the year brings the conclusion of crop sales campaigns, and sharing of revenues from them, according to Ncreif.But total returns from Corn Belt came in at a negative 0.4% for the period - representing a second successive quarter in the red for the region, after a negative 0.1% in the July-to-September period.'Depreciation was the drag'Still, it was actually a drop in land prices, rather than tumbling income, which represented the greatest market depressant for Corn Belt land investors....
