Minnesota farmland values for 2021 show increase

Jan 27, 2022

A survey of 14 Minnesota counties shows a 6.4% increase in farmland values over the previous annum.

By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com, Image via Pixabay.com

Presented for comparison only, an annual survey of 14 southwest Minnesota county’s farmland shows that values are on the rise.

Conducted by the University of Minnesota Extension, the survey utilized sales data on bare farms and more for look at sales over the first six months of the years 2016 through 2021.

Although a record high in farmland value occurred in 2013, it began a downward trend in 2014 for the counties of: Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, Martin, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone, Redwood, Rock, Watonwan, and Yellow Medicine.

That downward turn continued through 2017, when in 2018 it began to recover.

2016 value: $6,751
2017 value: $6,340
2018 value: $6,589
2019 value: $6,576
2020 value: $6,371
2021 value: $6,780

As you can, the 2021 average value for farmland per acre is the highest it has been in six years, with an average increase across all counties at 6.4 percent.

It should be noted that although there was an average increase, the four counties of Cottonwood, Jackson, Martin and Rock each experienced a drop in farmland value from 2020 values. Martin had the largest drop in value—15.9 percent.

However, with a whopping increase of 64 percent, Lincoln County picked up the slack, while Pipestone had the highest average sales price at $9,008 per acre.
Lac qui Parle had the lowest valued farmland at $4,719/acre.

Why the discrepancies? The obvious culprits are: farm incomes, grain prices realized by type, interest rates, return on other investments, and more.

Another reason to consider is that the survey examined all farmland sales over a six-month span per year—which means a county may only have had a single low value sale to drop its farm land evaluation result. Conversely, there might have been two high value sales that could have skewed a result for another county.

It is wise to consider, however, that along with the number of sales per county, land location and quality of land does play a large role in a land’s actual value.

Having noted that, the 14 counties—in total—did see a 6.4 percent increase in sales, relative to the usual annual sales of one to two percent.

Video: From Conventional to Regenerative: Will Groeneveld’s Journey Back to the Land

"You realize you've got a pretty finite number of years to do this. If you ever want to try something new, you better do it."

That mindset helped Will Groeneveld take a bold turn on his Alberta grain farm. A lifelong farmer, Will had never heard of regenerative agriculture until 2018, when he attended a seminar by Kevin Elmy that shifted his worldview. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a deep exploration of how biology—not just chemistry—shapes the health of our soils, crops and ecosystems.

In this video, Will candidly reflects on his family’s farming history, how the operation evolved from a traditional mixed farm to grain-only, and how the desire to improve the land pushed him to invite livestock back into the rotation—without owning a single cow.

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Will is a participant in the Regenerative Agriculture Lab (RAL), a social innovation process bringing together producers, researchers, retailers and others to co-create a resilient regenerative agriculture system in Alberta. His story highlights both the potential and humility required to farm with nature, not against it.