Technology in Land Markets

When people think about technology and agriculture, thoughts typically turn to precision agriculture, variable rate technology, data gathering and analysis, genetics, or other technologies related to crop or livestock production. Few people would think of how technology might disrupt land markets. That has now changed.

Tillable, a company based in Chicago, has created a platform to match landowners with ground to lease with producers wanting to lease. Think of it as farmland’s equivalent of AirBnB or Zillow. The company’s goal is to help landowners get a fair rent and farmers find more land to expand. The company has also created an algorithm to determine the market value and rental value for farmland, providing landowners information on the value of their assets. It can also provide landowners with tools and data to track performance and health of farms.

Closer to home, a Nebraska company, Terrace Ag, started by a student in UNL’s Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program, has developed appraisal software to aid in land appraisal. The company says it unites modern technology with the traditional agricultural land appraisal process, and brings together data, integration, and automation to improve the appraisal process.

New technologies are rampant in agriculture. Now technology has come to land markets. As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “Change in the only constant in life.”