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Farmland value outliers

A specialist who covers farmland values across the U.S. suggests there are several unsteady states in an otherwise steady market.

Ronnie Richardson with National Land Realty tells Brownfield one outlier is California.

“People talk about leaving California, well that’s not going to affect the agriculture prices in California just because people are moving out. But what will affect it is the interest rates, and the demand for some of those commodities out there.”

He says California ag land has declined 27 percent in value the past year amid softening prices for almonds, walnuts, and other ag goods important to the state.

Conversely, Richardson says Florida farmland values are up nearly 120 percent.

“That’s a little misleading because it’s transitional land more than anything, it’s ag land that’s being transitioned into development property. But still, you’re getting a huge increase in that ag property in Florida and it’s because people are wanting to develop that land instead of farm it.”

He says another state outside the national norm is Louisiana, where the average price per acre decreased by almost $11,000 primarily because some of the larger landowners began to divest themselves of some farmland holdings.