The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture report showed a widespread drop in farmland values with the highest losses in the Northern Plains.
Farmland values—a measurement of the value of all land and buildings on farms—declined $10 to $3,010 per acre, the first drop since 2009. Pastureland remained unchanged at $1,330 per acre and cropland declined 1 percent to $4,090 per acre.
The highest farm real estate values were in the Corn Belt region at $6,290 per acre, and the Mountain region had the lowest farm real estate value at $1,110 per acre, according to the report.
The United States cropland value decreased by $40 per acre to $4,090 per acre from the previous year. In the Southeast region, the average cropland value increased 4 percent from the previous year, while the Northern Plains region cropland values decreased by 5.4 percent.
But Texas cropland value saw a slight increase of 2.7 percent to $1,890 per acre, up from $1,840.
The United States pasture value remained constant at $1,330 per acre. The Delta region had the highest increase of 3.9 percent from 2015, and the Northeast region had the highest decrease in pastureland at 2.6 percent.
Farm income has been down for three consecutive years. The trend for land prices is similar to the 1980s when values fell for the same number of years amid record foreclosures, according to Purdue University agricultural economist Brent Gloy.
Experts say the trend will likely continue.
“It’s going to be soft for another year, at least,” Gloy told Bloomberg in a phone interview. “We haven’t worked through the magnitude of the drop in commodity prices.”