A survey of the amount of money Iowa producers pay to rent an acre farmland shows a decrease for the third straight year. Iowa State University Extension Program specialist Ann Johanns says she and others who conduct the annual report were not surprised by the results. “The statewide peak from our survey was 270 dollars and that was in 2013,” Johanns says. “Since then in the last four years, it has been an accumulated 18-point-nine percent decline.”

The annual report by Iowa State University found the highest rents in the Northeast part of the state with the lowest in the southern three tiers of counties. Johanns says falling crop prices often signal the same for cash rent.. “When we see grain prices come down, it’s very typical that you would see cash rents come down — but maybe not as quickly or with the same trend lines — but they do track together,” Johanns says.

She says prices for corn and soybeans have dropped more than 57 percent. She says a new agriculture secretary and renegotiation of trade deals are likely to have an impact down the road. The 2017 I-S-U cash rent survey included nearly 15-hundred responses from farmers, land owners, ag lenders and realtors.

(Radio Iowa)