Iowa sets 2022 record farmland sale price

Mar 11, 2022

38 acres of land sells for US$23,000/acre.

A new 2022 record price for Iowa farmland was set on March 8, 2022 by the Whitaker Marketing Group.

The record-setter was for 38 acres of farmland sold in Sioux County as a single tract of land for US$23,000 per acre (~CDN$29,300) or $24,498.60 (~CDN$31,200) per tillable acre.

"There are a multitude of factors that impact farmland prices," said David Whitaker of Whitaker Marketing Group. "Competitive bidding and utilizing the auction method of marketing is the way to sell your farmland in this market."

He added that the market is still trending upward. "Markets are emotion, and the emotion is strong towards farmland."

There are 35.7 million acres of farmland in Iowa, and it is estimated that 10 percent of it changes hands each year.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.