Farmland rents up 23 percent

Cash rental rates for cropland in Iowa have increased markedly since last year, 16 percent to be exact, from $184 per acre in 2010 to $214 in 2011. Washington County?s average rates have gone up even more ? 23 percent, from $182 an acre last year to $223 this year. That was the finding of a survey of about 1,600 persons employed in the agricultural sector. Iowa State University Extension economist William Edwards and program specialist Ann Johanns conducted the survey and published their findings earlier this month.

?This is the largest one-year increase since the statewide survey was started in 1994,? said Edwards. ?Even more interesting was the range of typical rents reported.?

The range represents the highest and lowest estimates for typical rents in each county submitted by survey respondents, not rents for individual farms. In most counties, the lower end of the range was about the same as in 2010, but the high end of the range was as much as $50 to $100 an acre above the previous year.

Average rents were higher in all nine crop reporting districts, with increases ranging from $23 per acre (12 percent) in east central Iowa to $37 per acre (21 percent) in southwest Iowa.

In District 9, which includes Washington, Jefferson, Van Buren, Henry, Wapello, Mahaska, Davis, Lee, Des Moines and Louisa counties, the average of typical cash rents for corn and soybean acres in 2011 is $198, up from $169 in 2010, $173 in 2009, $161 in 2008 and $134 in 2007.

?Individual farm rents that were set before the Sept. 1, 2010, termination deadline probably changed very little,? Edwards said. ?Rents that were negotiated later likely reflected the higher corn and soybean prices being offered then.?

The jump in rental rates at the state level comes a year after there was almost no increase at all. Average rental rates barely moved from 2009 to 2010, going from $183 to $184. The largest jump in recent years was 19 percent, from $143 in 2007 to $176 in 2008.

The survey contained much other information about crops in the state, its nine districts and each of the 99 counties. It revealed that the average corn yield in the county from 2006 to 2010 was 169 bushels per acre. The average bean yield over that time was 50 bushels per acre. Those were higher than the district averages of 155 bushels per acre for corn and 48 bushels per acre for beans.

Edwards and Johanns surveyed a diverse group of people to obtain their figures, although all of them have a connection to agriculture. Of the 1,567 respondents, 33 percent were farmers, 24 percent were landowners, 22 percent were professional farm managers, 14 percent were lenders and 7 percent were other professionals.

This year?s survey asked 300 more people than last year?s, and more than twice as many from Washington County. Seven people from Washington County supplied the county?s data last year, while 16 did so this year. This year?s survey also relied more on farm managers and lenders than the prior survey. In last year?s survey, 45 percent of respondents were farmers, 31 percent were landowners, 11 percent were lenders, 9 percent were professional managers and 4 percent were in other professions.

The survey asked these respondents for estimates of the value of high, average and low quality cropland. The top third highest quality land in the county rents for $274, the survey indicated. The middle third rents for $225 and the lowest third rents for $171. All of those are well above the district averages of $247 for the upper tier, $194 for the middle and $153 for the lowest tier.

The survey included information for cash rents on property other than corn and soybean acres. The typical cash rent for oats in the southeast district was $136, for instance. It was $116 for alfalfa hay and $99 for grass. Improved permanent pasture, which refers to pasture containing both grasses and legumes and is regularly fertilized, goes for $53 in the district and $58 in Washington County. Unimproved pasture, which is mostly bluegrass and receives little fertilizer, rents for $35 in the district and $33 in the county. Pasture rents for $18 and cornstalk grazing rents for $14.

Bremer County in northeast Iowa can boast the highest cash rents of any county at $266 per acre. Although Bremer County is a standout, the northeast district is only the fourth highest-rated district in the state at $223 per acre. West central Iowa has the highest rates at $227. Central Iowa is right behind at $226. Northwest Iowa was third with $224.

Wayne County in south central Iowa had the lowest rents at $145 per acre. South central Iowa has the lowest rental rates by far at $177. The southeastern district is second from the bottom at $198.

East central Iowa was once the leader in rates with $166 in 2007, when the next highest county was at $157. It is now in sixth place among the districts, with a $219 mark in 2011.