Tama County farm ground value was an average $8,560 in the 2014 Land Value Survey conducted by Iowa State University which was released in late December. Despite this being a drop of $585 per acre (6.3 percent), the average price for land stands at the second highest value since 1950. (See accompanying chart.)

In 2013, the Tama County value was up 7.25 percent, a five-year trend which included a 30.6 boost in value in 2011. In fact, farm ground has risen in value in the county in every year since 1999 except in the year 2009.

State-wide, the ISU survey says land values dropped 8.9 percent or $773 to an average of $7,943 in 2014. The 2013 state-wide average price of $8,716 was an all-time high.

“I think we’ve seen a peak for the time being,” Michael Duffy said in a news release accompanying the survey results. Duffy conducted the survey in 2014 and is now a retired ISU economics professor.

“Commodity prices and farm income are settling back to more expected levels, and I think land values will probably move sideways for a while,” Duffy said. “Many people think this report indicates the beginning of another farm crises, but land values are still considerably higher than they were a few years ago.”

Area Values

Average values in the survey for counties surrounding Tama included (2013 values in parenthesis): Marshall $8,550 (8,976) down 4.74%; Black Hawk $9,982 ($11,239) down 11.18 %; Grundy $9,876 ($10,931) down 9.65%); Benton $9.080 ($9,826) down7.59%; and Poweshiek $8,123 (8,138) down .18%.

State

Across Iowa, values fell an average of 8.87 percent to $7,943.

However, the ISU news release notes this figure is still more than double what it was 10 years ago.