Aerial Corn Soybeans SunsetAgricultural bankers this past week reported a 22% increase in farmland values in the Midwest. The Chicago Federal Reserve Bank says they expect values to keep rising the first quarter of 2022. Throughout the five-state Chicago Fed district, Iowa farmland saw the steepest value spikes at 30%.

The last time farmland value increased this much was a decade ago. Value wise, 2011’s increase was the last gain as large as 2021’s, aided by lower interest rates, government payments to disaster- and pandemic-impacted farmers, the strongest commodity prices seen in several years and generally high corn and soybean yields. Despite most of these same components in 2022, profit potential will be more difficult for producers with record-high input costs.

Read more on farmland values here.