News

Farmland market stable

A certified appraiser who covers several Midwestern states is seeing a stable ag land market.

Diane Zelhart with Compeer Financial is licensed in Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana and says she uses benchmarks to track values.

“Overall, our benchmark farms are showing signs of a stabilized market. The land market is dynamic, so fluctuations are to be expected. But across our three state territory, we’re seeing movements that would reflect a typical stabilized market.”

But she tells Brownfield there are regional signs the market is softening.

“Illinois has seen a decline by 4.2 percent in our Class A benchmark farms, and I think this is the first decline in land values that we have seen since the runup back in 2020.”

She says the biggest influences on farmland values continue to be commodity prices, interest rates, and supply and demand.

Zelhart made these comments to Brownfield during a content partnership appraisal podcast series with Compeer Financial.