Red River Valley Farmland Market has Staying Power

Farmland in the Red River Valley and surrounding area is holding steady, even as commodity prices and input costs stress farmers. “What’s surprising to me is how resilient the market is,” said Dale Weston, a real estate broker and appraiser with Farmers National Company. “Every day it seems like we read something not so positive, you would just assume that the land market would be heading down, but especially in the Cass County, North Dakota area, southern Red River Valley, it sure seems to be really resilient.”  Weston points to factors like the FM Diversion project and recent large sales attracting investor money as keeping land values firm. “Those sales were all pretty much up over $10,000 an acre out by that Casselton area.”