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Optimism for 2025 ag land market

The senior vice president of real estate operations at Farmers National Company (FNC) says there are positive signs for the ag land market heading into 2025.

Paul Shadegg tells Brownfield, “Every now and then we get these little hints of optimism in the commodity markets.”  He says, “You know, we’re going to have a different administration in. We have export potential, and then input costs that have moderated are also helping a little bit.”

He says further interest rate reductions would also be beneficial. 

“I was surprised that we didn’t see an impact on the way up, but there was a lot of cash in the market at that time.”  He says, “Now that we’ve seen some reduction in interest rates, we’re not really seeing that drive optimism because interest rates are still relatively high compared to where they were over the past five-year period.”

Shadegg says decreased supply is the biggest support for farmland values in the new year.  He says the industry has seen about 25% less farmland available for sale over the past five years.

AUDIO: Paul Shadegg – Farmers National Company