The USDA recently released their 2018 Land Values Summary, which reports average agricultural land values across the United States.  To view the report, click here.

The report looks at the value of agricultural land across the country.  The broadest measure is the “farm real estate value,” which measures the value of all land and buildings on farms.  For 2018, the average farm real estate value of the United States was $3,140/acre, up $60/acre from last year.  For Texas, the average was $2,280/acre, a 9.1% increase from last year.  The Southern Plains Region (Texas and Oklahoma) reported the highest increase in farm real estate value for the year.  Not surprisingly, the Corn Belt Region (IL, IN, IA, MO, OH) reported the highest farm real estate values at $6,430/acre (up 2.7% from 2017) and the Mountain Region (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, WY) had the lowest farm real estate value average at $1,140/acre.

For cropland values, US average prices were $4,130/acre, an increase of $40/acre from last year.  For Texas, the average was $2,100/acre (up 4.5% from 2017).  This breaks down into $2,400 acreage for irrigated cropland and $2,050 for irrigated cropland here in Texas.  Regionally, the Corn Belt had the highest average prices for cropland at $6,710/acre.  New York posted the highest value for a single state at $12,900/acre.  Lowest values regionally were in the Mountain Region at $1,810/acre.  The state reporting the lowest average cropland value was Montana at $1,030/acre.

For pasture value, the US average was $1,390 (up $40/acre from 2017).  Texas came in at $1,750/acre, an increase of $1,000 (9.1%) from last year.  The Southeast Region (AL, FL, GA, SC) posted the highest average pastureland value at $3,390/acre while the Mountain Region posted the lowest at $634/acre.

For additional information on land values in Texas broken down by regions within the state, click here to learn more about the Texas Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers Land Value Trends Report.

If you would like information on average cash lease values, click here for a prior blog post on that report.