News

Farmland market not weak, but weakening

The farmland market is not immune to the downturn in the ag economy.

Hertz Real Estate Services president Doug Hensley says what’s happening to farmland values is similar to other parts of agriculture.

“For years we’ve seen the benefits of the high end of the cycle, and we’ve come off the high in a lot of ways with commodity prices and other things. So the land market is at the beginning part of it’s transition.”

He tells Brownfield that’s not to say the market is weak.

“I think it has more to do with just the cautiousness that we’re seeing maybe a little more so from buyers. Buyers are still capable, but we’re seeing that the depth in the market isn’t quite as great as it has been in the past two to three years.”

Hensley says while there are still sales upwards of $16,000 an acre, they’re becoming far less common.