Southwestern Minnesota Farmland Values Increase in 2022

Financial security is always a hot topic issue. One of the largest pieces of that is property and home ownership for most Americans. Mortgage rates, utility costs, insurance coverage, the list goes on and on to the point of how much is my property worth if I were to ever need to sell? It has been labeled as a “sellers market” in recent years with most people earning way more on their properties and homes than initial net worth.

With the annual survey conducted in 14 different southwestern Minnesota counties, land values have been on the rise. The market has been on the rise and fall since 2014, with decreases in the 2017 market crash and then an upward trend during the pandemic in 2021 and 2022. The survey was conducted in the counties of Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, Martin, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone, Redwood, Rock, Watonwan, and Yellow Medicine.

Some notable factors in the markets include:

• Land Prices reached upwards to $6,873 in 2022
• Farmland prices decreased in Chippewa and Pipestone, but grew in the other 12 counties
• The largest increase in price was Cottonwood County with an increase of 86.77% to $9,033, from $4,839 in 2021.
• The largest decrease was Pipestone with at decrease of 8.1% to $8,282, from $9,008 in 2021.
• Nobles County had the highest sale price of $11,025 per acre
• Chippewa County had the lowest sale price of $6,333 per acre
• Redwood County had the highest Crop Equivalency Rating (CER) at $149.68
• Lac qui Parle County had the lowest CER at $86.58

Most economists believe the upturn in value have to deal with a large variety of factors, including: farm incomes, grain prices, interest rates, supply and demand, return on other investments and 1031 exchanges. With corn and soybean prices high in both late 2022 and early 2023, predictions are looking good for profitable farmers and farmland values in 2023.

• Rock County: 2022 average price per acre – $9,935