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One out of four corn, soybean growers surveyed expect cash rental rates to rise next year

One out of four corn and soybean farmers surveyed expect 2024 cash rental rates in their area to be higher than this year, according to the latest Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.

Jim Mintert is the survey’s principal investigator and director of the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture.

“Every summer we like to ask people what they think is going to happen with respect to cash rental rates in their area next year. This question only went to corn and soybean producers to kind of keep things on a level playing field in terms of evaluating the responses. About two thirds, 68 percent of the people in the survey, said they expect no change in cash rental rates for farmland next year, but one out of four said they do expect to see cash rental rates rise in the upcoming year,” he says. “…with 25 percent expecting higher cash rental rates, I suspect we’ll see some upward pressure on cash rental rates for farmland in 2024 compared to 2023.”

He tells Brownfield, “among those who expect to see a rise, it was split between how much they think it’s going rise, some of them choosing 0 to 5 percent and some of them choosing 5 to 10 percent.”

Nearly one-third of farmers surveyed expect rental rates to increase up to five percent while nearly half say rates could rise from five to 10 percent, both compared to 2023.

Mintert says the survey will continue to monitor farmer sentiment on cash rental rates over the next few months.