USDA-ERS Report: Farmland Values, 2000-2016

Economic theory suggests that farmland values will change in response to changes in the underlying factors that support them, namely, returns to farmland. One measure of returns to farmland is net cash farm income per acre, or the net return that an acre of farmland generates.  Values for  both cropland and pastureland, two major uses for farmland, increased substantially in 2004-14, nearly doubling in real, or inflation-adjusted, terms.But national trends in U.S. cropland and pastureland values can disguise regional variation in land values, which can result from differences in soil quality, annual rainfall, and proximity of urban areas, among other factors.