The 2025 Iowa State University Land Value Survey revealed the average price of Iowa farmland increased by 0.7% over the past year, reaching $11,549 per acre.
While this marked an $83 increase from last year, values remain below the 2023 record high of $11,835 per acre.
“However, when these values are adjusted for inflation, they actually show a decline of 1.8% which tells us that, in real terms, farmland values have actually eroded,” said Rabail Chandio, assistant professor and Extension economist at ISU.
Chandio, who oversees the annual survey, noted that fluctuations below 5% are more of an adjustment than an actual market change.
“We see that this minor increase is the sixth increase in the last seven years. The only exception to that was last year when we experienced a decline,” Chandio said.
Last year’s survey indicated a fall of more than 3% per acre.
Perhaps the most notable finding from the 2025 survey is the widening gap between regions and counties. The northwest corner of Iowa and Scott County in the southeast corner of Iowa saw the highest land values.
Values fell in the middle third of Iowa because of declining crop prices. Areas in the east and west that raise more livestock recorded higher values.
O’Brien County in northwest Iowa ranked highest on the survey at $16,269 per acre, up 2.2%. Appanoose County ranked the lowest at $6,679 per acre, a 2.3% decrease.
“And that is the story for this year. There is growth, but there is substantial disparity in where it's coming from. There's a lot of different things going on within the state,” Chandio said.
Several economic factors contributed to this year’s tepid growth. Chandio pointed to federal interest rates, which saw only modest cuts in 2025, leaving the market exposed to the lingering effects of rate hikes from 2022 and 2023.
The ISU survey of more than 300 agricultural professionals found that half of farmers experienced a loss of income this year.
“So that means this year, the farm sector has had to be supported a lot by the off-farm income, which is probably going to contribute a lot more to the median total income for farm households,” Chandio said.
While tariffs were a concern, Chandio said they played only a minor role this year.
“Tariffs may have been part of the background noise, but they weren’t a major driver of farmland values,” Chandio said.
Instead, she cited tight commodity margins as a significant factor for many Iowa farmers, even as production costs fell.
The ISU Land Value Survey, which began in 1941, is the oldest of its kind in the nation and is released annually in December.
Chandio said this year’s survey mirrored results found by the Federal Reserve, the REALTORS Land Institute and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
