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Value of Wisconsin farmland going two ways
The value of agricultural land sold in Wisconsin fell three percent to an average $4,072 per acre in 2009. Land continuing in agricultural uses averaged $3,927, down less than one percent reflecting the economic difficulties in the dairy industry. The big drop came in land diverted to other uses; the average price per acre was $5,635 down 27 percent from 2008. Bruce Jones with the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison says that big drop was the result of the housing market. “We saw the housing market get very hot and we saw prices escalating and we started trying to get more land into that high-return area, that bubble has burst.”
Jones says the good news is that land used for farming is retaining its value and that is important because most of farm wealth is in farmland. He does not see pressure from the non-farm market returning in the near future and as long as commodity prices remain strong the land in farming should at least hold value if not trend higher.
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