As net farm incomes climbed to new highs in the early 2020s, so did farmland values. With 2024’s farm income reversal, NDSU Agricultural Finance Specialist Bryon Parman expects farmland values to follow that downward trend. “There’s been a pretty rapid increase for about a three-year period. Now one of the things that we’re starting to see is some resistance by producers to going out and paying even higher prices on farmland or higher cash rental rates. Parman also notes the difference in farmland values and cash rental rates. Though there has always been a gap between the two, Parman says it’s wider now than ever. “At some point, there has to be some reconciliation in the future, and that would mean either farmland prices coming down or rental rates going up relatively quickly to close that gap between the two and that’s going to depend a lot on what incomes do.”
