The cost to rent an acre of Iowa farmland increased nine percent last year to a record 279 dollars. Iowa State University’s Alejandro Plastina, says the strong farm economy drove the increase.
He says there’s demand when land becomes available to rent and that is also pushing up rents.
He says some input costs came down, and the increase in interest rates has not been a factor after several years of good farm income.
There was considerable variability across counties depending on the quality of the land — but 91 out of the 99 Iowa counties experienced increases. Only Des Moines, Jefferson, Lucas, Muscatine, Van Buren, Wapello, Warren and Woodbury counties saw declines in their overall average cash rents. Plaustina says farm income projections are expected to decline over the next couple of years, putting downward pressure on cash rents.
Plaustina says 51 percent of the farmland in Iowa is rented, with the majority of rent in the form of cash deals.
