The value of farmland in the U.S. has been going straight since the early 1990s. A friend who bought farmland back in the early '90s told me that the value of that land has increased five-fold. This is prime Red River Valley (North Dakota) farmland. Recent trades have been in the range of $4,500-5,000 per acre. Not much land is trading, and what is being traded has been typically cash purchases. No financing; farmers have cash. We've all heard the anecdotal stories about $10,000-15,000 per acre land sales and even higher in other areas. WPI has written often about the very steep rise in land values. We've also written numerous times about the reasons for the escalating values, including:
High commodity prices; Generally very good yie...
Key Takeaways: President Trump announced $8 billion in additional agricultural assistance through the Harvest Fuel Relief Program, as USDA projects farm fuel and oil expenses will increase 28.8 percent in 2026. The package follows $12 billion in earlier relief, while government farm payments w...
Key Takeaways: A student group from the University of Chicago is protesting to bring back onion futures trading. Trading in onion futures was banned in 1958 following a spectacular bout of market manipulation that resulted in a corner of the physical market. The ban on onion futures led t...
Beef packer margins deteriorated to $141/head last week, down $55 from the prior week as fed cattle prices strengthened while the Choice cutout remained nearly unchanged. The cutout held near $373/cwt while fed cattle prices climbed $4/cwt to $224/cwt, narrowing processor profits. Despite the d...
