Concerns Rise Over a Bubble in Farmland Values

Farmland values keep soaring, but is a bubble around the corner? According to three Purdue economists, the answer is “possibly.” In the University’s annual land-value survey, 27% of respondents said they expected prices to climb higher this year and even through 2027. For the purchase of farmland to be justifiable, its income opportunities must exceed the cost. A bubble is when that possibility diminishes.

In the Purdue survey, farm managers, land brokers, rural appraisers, lenders and farmers, and USDA county directors reported increases of just over 30% in the top-quality and average farmland values in 2021. Concerns over sharp rises in value are often backdropped by the agricultural crisis of the mid-1980s when farmland plummeted 27% in five years.

Read more on farmland values here.