Iowa Farmers Buy Land at $1.13 Million as Crop Prices Undercut Returns

2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 24

$1.13 million for 36 acres in northwest Iowa set what is described as the state's priciest farmland sale, even though buyer Bob Wassenaar said the parcel would not pay as a crop-farming operation.
Plunging corn, soybean and other crop prices, combined with rising farm costs, are pushing farmers to treat land less as a production input and more as a standalone real estate asset.
Wassenaar bought the tract for its scarce, fertile soil and location near a feedlot now run by his sons, then rented the land to them rather than farming it himself.
Iowa State economist Rabail Chandio said farmland values were once tied mainly to crop profitability, but many owners now separate the land's investment value from what it can grow.