November 2026 Wallace’s Farmer MarketPlace Extra

As harvest 2026 approached, the grain markets had made a nice move higher on strong demand and worldwide supply concerns – north of $5 for new crop corn and $13+ for new crop soybeans. We talked about several of the reasons why in last month’s column.  With average or better crops, profit potential in the 2026 crop is real.  This late-growing-season grain market strength has also powered a sizable volume of pre-harvest land sales. Many market observers – including us at Hertz Farm Management – believe these pre-harvest land sales trended slightly higher, overall. It seems the increasing land sale supply was met with an equal notch higher in demand. 

However, on the last day of September, USDA’s quarterly grain stocks report surprised the market with more old crop corn than expected.  So, as I write here at the beginning of October, some of the commodity market enthusiasm has been muted.  But, things still look much brighter than 12 months ago.  The corn market is just shy of a dollar-a-bushel higher than year-ago, and soybeans are more than $2/bushel higher than this same time in 2025.  Even with the dip in the last week, on-farm profits are still in sight.  Let me reframe it this way… if, on January 1st of this year, I’d asked any farmer whether they’d be happy with $5 corn and $12.50 beans at harvest, I believe the vote would have been near-unanimous. 

I believe that is one of the reasons why farmers continue to show interest in new land acquisition opportunities.  They know that farmland assets are the most fundamental input to production agriculture, and they can see the big picture and forge on, even if things turn negative in the short-term.  Farmland buyers approach land with a long-term lens, despite the pull on their emotions from the weekly (and daily) ups and downs in the grain markets. 

NORTHWEST

Buena Vista County:

Located southwest of Rembrandt, 137 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $10,525 per acre. The farm consisted of 123 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 (Corn Suitability Rating index) of 83.3, and equaled $141 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres. Note: This non-tillable of this property included multiple waterways and terraces.

NORTH CENTRAL

Mitchell County:

Located north of Osage, 155 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $17,300 per acre. The farm consisted of 151 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 88.4, and equaled $201 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

NORTHEAST

Chickasaw County:

Located south of Ionia, 74 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $18,100 per acre. The farm consisted of 71 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 87.2, and equaled $216 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

WEST CENTRAL

Harrison County:

Located east of Persia, 156 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $11,300 per acre. The farm consisted of 156 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 70.8, and equaled $160 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

CENTRAL

Grundy County:

Located northeast of Wellsburg, 116 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $14,000 per acre. The farm consisted of 112 +/- cropland acres with a CSR2 of 90.5, and equaled $160 per CSR2 point on the cropland acres.

EAST CENTRAL

Benton County:

Located northeast of Dysart, 80 +/- acres recently sold for $18,500 per acre. The farm consisted of 74 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 97.3, and equaled $205 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres. Note: This farm included an older home and building site which were recently removed, and those acres will be farmed in the future.

SOUTHWEST

Fremont County:

Located north of Hamburg, 43 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $8,300 per acre. The farm consisted of 38 +/- tillable acres with an average CSR2 of 73.6, and equaled $128 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

SOUTH CENTRAL

Ringgold County:

Located northwest of Diagonal, 80 +/- acres recently sold for $6,300 per acre. The mix-use farm consisted of 30 +/- tillable acres with an average CSR2 of 69.1, along with 40 +/- acres enrolled in CRP that paid $259/enrolled acres, with the balance of acres in timbered draws and waste. 

 SOUTHEAST

Washington County:

Located west of Wellman, 144 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $12,400 per acre. The farm consisted of 144 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 70.6, and equaled $176 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

Doug Hensley is President of Hertz Real Estate Services at Hertz Farm Management, a leading farmland brokerage and management firm serving landowners across the Midwest. The company specializes in farmland sales, farm management, and agricultural appraisals. Call us at 800-593-5263  or visit hertz.ag.

Related Articles