A new survey shows increases in farmland value and cash rents in South Dakota.
Every year the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service releases information on South Dakota’s farm real estate value and cash rent.
The farm real estate value – which pertains to the value of all land and buildings on farms – increased by 6% from last year. Cash rents paid to landlords so far in the year have gone up as well. Irrigated cropland went up $6 more per acre, dryland was up $5 per acre and pasture rented for cash increased by $1.50 per acre.
Erik Gerlach is a state statistician for the agency. He said how you view these increases depends on who you are.
“Well certainly if you’re paying cash rent and the demand for land is going up and cash rent is going up, it’s going to affect your budget. Particularly, anyone that doesn’t own a lot of farmland and a lot of their ground is all rented, that’s going to be difficult, particularly as we look at 2024, where yields may do alright but we already know crop prices are not great. On the converse side, if you’re a landowner, obviously if you don’t have a lot of liabilities against it that’s certainly a positive for your balance sheet,” Gerlach said.
Gerlach says whether you are a landowner or land renter also factors in to whether the data is considered positive or negative.
He said similar increases are happening across the region.
“Well, I think that the increases, in general, directionally are the same as you’re gonna see in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, our contiguous states. Values of course are gonna be different, as we have a lot more range land in our western part South Dakota, so when you look at average value per acre, it’s gonna be incredibly different than you’re gonna see in Iowa or Nebraska where you have more irrigated crop land. But directionally, the increases we’ve see year over year over are pretty consistent across the Great Plains,” Gerlach said.
This is the fourth straight year that this survey has indicated an increase in farm real estate value in South Dakota.
