August 2025 Wallace’s Farmer MarketPlace Extra

The 4th of July holiday is often an annual pivot point for the farmland market.  Not only is Independence Day a common mid-year meeting and relaxation time for families, but it also marks the point when harvest enters the 90-day window. As a result, many second-half/year-end decisions get batted around and directionally made coming out of the holiday breather.  I believe this year will be no different – and possibly even more noticeable.

Why? Early 2025 featured a lot of moving parts and uncertainty, so many early-in-the-year decisions were postponed until people had (or felt) more certainty.  I do not believe that certainty exists yet, but it does seem people have become more comfortable making decisions within the uncertainty.

Land-market-wise, I’ve mentioned in recent columns that the limited supply of land has helped to maintain Iowa farmland prices thus far in 2025. Overall demand for land is also down year-over-year, but supply has been down even more, so we’ve seen farmland values firm up and move marginally higher in most areas since last fall. Early year strength in the 2025 grain markets really supported land prices into spring. But since planting season, the grain markets have gone through a painful 90 to 120-day trend lower, based on good weather and increasingly high expectations of a big crop coming, especially for corn. The continued tariff uncertainties are also still weighing on the grain complex. So, while land sale supply has been down and has proven mostly land-price-positive, it’s important to know that the weakened summer grain complex has not been supportive to farmland prices.

To be fair, things can still change; but I’m beginning to see 2025 set up as another one of those years where, similar to 2015 through 2019, marginal profitability and an off-setting mix of plus and minus influences yielded a sideways choppy land market. In that environment, crop production volume/success becomes a significant influence. Said differently, do you remember a few years back when we talked a lot about whether we could “out-bushel” the commodity price weakness?

NORTHWEST

Emmet County:

Located north of Gruver, 152 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $11,050 per acre. The farm consisted of 147 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 (Corn Suitability Rating index) of 78.8, and equaled $145 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

NORTH CENTRAL

Franklin County:

Located south of Hampton, 114 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $13,000 per acre. The farm consisted of 112 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 86.4, and equaled $153 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

NORTHEAST

Clayton County:

Located northwest of Edgewood, 58 +/- acres recently sold for $14,200 per acre. The farm consisted of 54 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 84.2, and equaled $181 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

WEST CENTRAL

Harrison County:

Located northeast of Modale, 80 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $7,500 per acre. The farm consisted of 79 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 60.4, and equaled $126 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

CENTRAL

Jasper County:

Located east of Prairie City, 122 +/- acres recently sold for $14,700 per acre. The farm consisted of 120 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 86.8, and equaled $172 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres. Note: Roads divided this property into 3 parcels.

EAST CENTRAL

Cedar County:

Located northeast of West Branch, 70 +/- acres recently sold for $12,285 per acre. The farm consisted of 62 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 76.0, and equaled $182 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

SOUTHWEST

Mills County:

Located west of Glenwood along I-29, 182 +/- acres recently sold via sealed bid for $14,305 per acre. The farm consisted of 178 +/- tillable acres with an average CSR2 of 95, and equaled $154 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres. Note: Roads divided this property into 2 parcels.

SOUTH CENTRAL

Ringgold County:

Located southeast of Mt. Ayr, 240 +/- acres recently sold for $4,406 per acre. This farm features a CSR2 rating of 40.3, and is grazing pasture with multiple ponds, along with areas of timbered draws.

SOUTHEAST

Jefferson County:

Located northeast of Fairfield, 72 +/- acres recently sold for $9,727 per acre. The farm consisted of 67 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 66.7, and equaled $157 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

Hensley is president of Hertz Real Estate Services, which compiled this list, but did not handle all sales. Call Hertz at  800-593-5263  or visit hertz.ag.

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