# Iowa Farmland.



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Very interesting.....AgWeb.

Regards, Mike

https://www.agweb.com/article/7-fast-facts-about-iowa-farmland/


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## Widairy (Jan 1, 2016)

An interesting or scary number that jumped out at me was the percentage of land owned by people who have nothing to do with farming.


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## NewBerlinBaler (May 30, 2011)

Widairy said:


> An interesting or scary number that jumped out at me was the percentage of land owned by people who have nothing to do with farming.


I thinks this reflects the children of deceased farmers who are college educated and have professional jobs but don't want to sell the family farm. I know of several neighboring farms that are this situation - it's common. Also, farmland is now so expensive that people who are actively engaged in agriculture can't afford land.

Around 60% of farmland in PA is leased, similar to IA. Probably the same reasons at play.

I was relieved to see that most farms in IA are owned debt-free. I wonder what the other 49 states look like?


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

My grandfather paid $1/acre for my place back around 1880-90. He bought 320 (or 640 acres--we're not sure). Gave 80 to one of my uncles, 120 to one of my aunts. My mother bought this place from my uncle for $400/acre including house and building in 1975.

Today, it's worth about $3,000 to $3,500/acre.

That's a 3,000% increase in about 140 years.

One of the things I remember him saying was that they are making land anymore.

Ralph


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

rjmoses said:


> My grandfather paid $1/acre for my place back around 1880-90. He bought 320 (or 640 acres--we're not sure). Gave 80 to one of my uncles, 120 to one of my aunts. My mother bought this place from my uncle for $400/acre including house and building in 1975.
> 
> Today, it's worth about $3,000 to $3,500/acre.
> 
> ...


actualy it would be 300,000% increase or 3000 X
I wonder how that compares
To other long term investments


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## woodland (May 23, 2016)

swmnhay said:


> actualy it would be 300,000% increase or 3000 X
> I wonder how that compares
> To other long term investments


What else would even last that long to compare it too? Gold possibly ?


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## pede58 (Oct 27, 2015)

Interesting topic, pretty much the same here in this part of Illinois, seems to be a lot of widows who own ground. I'm not sure where it's at today and has been played with a lot over the years but the inheritance tax plays a role and use to be fairly steep especially with the price of ground at $6000-10,000 per acre. It is a good investment if you can afford it and as mentioned above they don't make it anymore, Bill Gates has 600acres west on me but for the most part in this neck of the woods it's still mainly family farms.


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