United States Department of Agriculture

Highlights

2013 Land Values and Cash Rents - Cropland and Pasture

October 2013 | No. 2013-3 | Download pdf version

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimated 2013 agricultural land values from data collected in the June Area Survey during the first two weeks of June, when NASS enumerators interviewed producers on approximately 9,900 land segments.

NASS estimated 2013 cash rents based on data collected during the 2013 June Area Survey and the 2013 Cash Rents Survey, conducted in spring in all states except Alaska. The Cash Rents Survey collected data on rental rates producers pay for irrigated cropland, non-irrigated cropland, and pasture land.

• Agricultural Land Values
• Rent Paid for Agricultural Land

Agricultural Land Values

In 2013, the average value of U.S. cropland (including both irrigated and nonirrigated land) was $4,000 per acre, an increase of $460 per acre, or 13 percent, since 2012. The increase is more than 240 percent since 2003, when the average value per acre was $1,660 (Fig. 1).

At the state level, the value of cropland in 2013 ranged from $888 per acre in Montana to $10,190 per acre in California and $12,800 per acre in New Jersey.

In much of the country, the change in cropland value (increase or decrease) between 2012 and 2013 was less than 5 percent. In fourteen states, cropland increased more than 10 percent in value, including three (Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota) in which the crease was more than 20 percent. (Fig. 2)

Pasture land also increased in value for the United States. The average value in 2013 was $1,200 per acre, an increase of 4.3 percent since 2012, when the average per acre value in the United States was $1,150. The value of pasture land in 2013 ranged from $350 per acre in New Mexico to $13,400 in New Jersey.

Rent Paid for Agricultural Land

Nationally, in 2013, producers paid an average of $136 per acre to rent cropland (including both irrigated and nonirrigated land). This is an increase of $11 or 8.8 percent since 2012, and nearly double the $73 per acre in 2003 (Fig. 1).

For irrigated cropland, producers paid an average of $202 per acre, an 8 percent increase over the $187 per acre they paid in 2012. For pasture land, rental rates increased from $11.50 per acre in 2012 to $12 per acre in 2013.

Among states, the rental cost per acre in 2013 ranged from $31.50 in Montana to $280 in California for all cropland; from $70 in Oklahoma to $365 in California for irrigated cropland; from $14 in Wyoming to $255 in Iowa for nonirrigated cropland; and from $2 in Arizona to $53 in Illinois for pasture land.

At the county level, the average rental rates for cropland in 2013 ranged from $5.50 per acre for non-irrigated cropland in Sanpete County, Utah, to $2,510 per acre for irrigated cropland in Ventura County, California.

• The five counties with the highest average rent for irrigated cropland were all in California.
• For non-irrigated cropland, the ten counties with the highest average rental rates were in two states: Iowa and Illinois. DeWitt County, Illinois, had the highest rates, at an average of $385 per acre, followed by Sangamon County, Illinois ($371).
• The ten counties with the highest average rental rates for pasture were in Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Washington. The highest pasture cash rental rate was $77.50, found in two Iowa counties, Pottawattamie and Harrison.

About the Surveys

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts the June Area Survey to collect data on crop acreage, land use, grain stocks, farms, rents, and the value of land and sales. In the Cash Rents Survey, NASS collects data on rental rates producers pay for various kinds of agricultural land.