Perspectives on Corn Belt Farmland Values
An update last month from Iowa State University (ISU) Extension’s Wendong Zhang and Steven Johnson (“Agricultural professionals expect lower land values and stable crop prices“) stated that, “Over 270 agricultural professionals attended the 2019 ISU Soil Management Land Valuation (SMLV) Conference this past May…Over 150 participants provided their estimates of future land values as well as future cash corn and soybean prices in their primary county in Iowa via an online Qualtrics survey.
Where Will Values Go?
On the Edge: Farmland Values Treading Water
The future of the farmland market continues to be a guessing game. So far, values have been supported by low interested rates and a strong buyer pool for limited land for sale. But numerous financial metrics point to a deterioration of farmers’ financial health, according to a semi-annual market update from Farmers National Company.
“As 2019 unfolds, the land market will remain on edge watching farm finances, weather, and trade issues,” says Randy Dickhut, senior vice president of real estate operations for Farmers National. “The outcome of these and other unknowns will guide which direction land values will move over the coming months.”
What Does the Future of Farmland Values Have In Store?
Corn Acres May be Planted But Plenty of Uncertainty Left
The market is still trying to wrap their heads around USDA's June Acreage number. Tyne Morgan recently spoke to Matt Bennett of AgMarket.Net about the June acreage forecast.
Watch The Video.
Summer Shower of Federal Cash to Follow Rainy Spring in Farm Belt
Farmers can expect a deluge of federal payments in the weeks ahead to cushion the effect of farm exports lost to the trade war and crops washed away by the rainiest spring in a quarter century, say analysts.
“It’s probably going to be August” when the biggest shower of payments begins, the multibillion-dollar, stop-gap Market Facilitation Program, according to Agriculture Undersecretary Bill Northey, who oversees farm subsidies.
Aid Coming in Future Weeks.
John Phipps: Is the Historic Spring Flooding Tied to Field Tiles?
Speaking of the weather, the wet spring has intensified an already heated debate:
“How much flooding here in America is created by tile lines? The grass waterways and field timber finger ditches are gone and replaced with more tile lines. The earth doesn’t get a chance to absorb moisture anymore once the rain stops. Has greed started to make us not be concerned with mankind downstream? I live along the Mississippi River and a lot of the backwaters I got to fish as a child are just silted full now.”
Do Tiles Affect Flooding?
How Big is Controlled Environment Agriculture?
Global automation specialist Autogrow and New York-based Agritecture Consulting are appealing to growers to take part in the inaugural Global CEA Census. The Census seeks to understand the scale and nature of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) to better determine the roadblocks to accelerating the industry. This includes greenhouses, vertical farms, indoor rooms and hoop or tunnel houses.
Both Agritecture and Autogrow believe a great deal of CEA activity worldwide is not well documented, with data being fragmented and often unreliable, making it difficult to provide support or solutions on a larger scale.
How Big is It?
How Will Hot, Dry Weather Influence the Grain Markets?
For the last several months, the grain markets had to digest how an extremely wet spring plays out for prices. From May 2018 to April 2019, an average of 36.2” of precipitation fell across the lower 48 states. That’s 6.25” above average, according to NOAA. In fact, that time period was the nation’s wettest 12-month period on record.
Now, the grain markets will have to determine what hot and dry weather means for price discovery. At least for the short-term, that wet pattern is shifting to a drier tone.
Hot Summer Months To Come.