Land Values

Improved financial conditions are resulting in rising land values too. The USDA National Agricultural Statistics (NASS) reported in August that Nebraska experienced the largest increase in average land value in 2021 of any major agriculture state. Nebraska’s average value, $3,100 per acre (including buildings on farms), rose 11 percent compared to 2020, only $20 per acre shy of the record high of $3,120 set in 2014. Nebraska’s average cropland value was up nearly 14 percent, dryland crop ground posted an increase of over 15 percent, irrigated land saw an increase of just over 12 percent, and pastureland posted an increase of just under 4 percent.

More recent data from the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City shows increases in land values in Nebraska in 2021 were some of the highest in the Tenth District—up 16 percent on non-irrigated cropland, 19 percent on irrigated ground, and 21 percent for rangeland. The growth is the sharpest seen in several years.