Farmland values and cash rents are normally key indicators of the health of the crop sector in general, and recent data show stable rent rates in a key Corn Belt state. Cash rents were essentially unchanged in the last year in USDA’s latest survey for Iowa, with slight increases in irrigated cropland and slightly lower rents for pasture acres. The data come alongside USDA projections for higher U.S. net farm income for 2020 based largely on government payments to farmers like the agency’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) and Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Those payments — contributing to a 66% year-over-year increase in government subsidies — total more than the difference in projected farm income between 2019 and 2020 while crop and livestock cash receipts are seen declining slightly. See more of the latest data.