Kansas Land Values-Analysis of Four Year Trends
Kansas State University has a great resource for farmers and others interested in farming, not just in that state. On Friday, Dr. Mykel Taylor presented a webinar on the trends in Kansas Farm Values over the last four years. The Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service (KAS) reports annual farmland prices, but only on a statewide basis. As most farmers know, the value of farmland varies greatly through out any state and in many states, farmland values vary greatly within many counties. I know the county I grew up in (Walla Walla County, State of Washington) has great variability in prices. In the northern section of the county where there is light rainfall, the price of farmland may be less than $1,000 per acre. As you get closer to the mountains with greater rainfall, the price of good crop land probably gets close to $5,000 or more. As you get to the west side of the country where there is good irrigated ground, the value may be more than $10,000 and for those certain acres that are good for vineyards, the value may be higher than $20,000.
In Kansas, the KAS estimated the value of non-irrigated farm land rose from about $1,000 per acre in 2010 to about $2,000 per acre in 2013. This is about a 100% increase over four years. For irrigated ground, the price rose from $1,500 to $3,000 during the same time period. KSU took Kansas Property Valuation Department data and estimated their own set of values. During the same period, they estimated that non-irrigated ground rose from about $1,500 to slight more than $2,500 and irrigated ground increased from $2,500 to almost $5,000.
As you can see, there is a fairly large gap between the two, however, the trend is the same, UP. The Northeast section of the state has the highest averages with Brown county having the highest average for non-irrigated ground at $6,003 and an overall average of $4,895. Only a few counties in Kansas have material amounts of irrigated ground and most of it is in the western/central part of the state. The highest average was in Harvey county at $7,656.
Paul Neiffer, CPA
Paul Neiffer is a certified public accountant and business advisor specializing in income taxation, accounting services, and succession planning for farmers and agribusiness processors. Paul is a principal with CliftonLarsonAllen in Walla Walla, Washington, as well as a regular speaker at national conferences and contributor at agweb.com. Raised on a farm in central Washington, he has been immersed in the ag industry his entire life, including the last 30 years professionally. Paul and his wife purchase an 180 acre ranch in 2016 and enjoy keeping it full of animals.
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