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Lower quality farmland more than holding its own

The vice president of appraisal for Compeer Financial says lower quality farmland is more than holding its own.

Mike Morris tells Brownfield land values in general have been surprisingly strong given several years of low commodity prices and depressed farm incomes.

“Kind of interestingly, the lower quality land in some cases, if it has a recreational component, is holding steady to increasing a little bit.”

He says Compeer has a recreational benchmark, and it has gone up significantly this year.

“And in talking to some of my counterparts across the Midwest, there seems to be a demand for land that you can go out and ride a four-wheeler on, hunt on. Maybe it’s got a little bit of crop income, but it’s something that allows people to go out and not be elbow-to-elbow with other people.”

Morris says while high-quality land is also retaining its value, the tier between high and low-quality has slipped a little this year.