Jan. 16—LIMA — The value of farmland held relatively steady over the course of 2024 in northwest Ohio and the surrounding areas, data found.
According to Devin Dye, broker and owner of Dye Real Estate & Land Company in Lima, farmland prices around the area have hovered anywhere from $12,000 to $22,000 per acre.
"Allen County has seen farmland sales range from $12,000 to $18,000 (per acre) in the last 12 months," Dye said via email. "Auglaize County has seen farmland sales from $12,000 to $20,000 per acre."
Dye mentioned the highest price tag he knows is from Pandora, where land sold for $22,000 per acre.
In an upcoming quarterly newsletter, Dye includes data from sales he is involved in dating back to 2015.
According to this data, farmland value has seen a 92 percent increase since 2015, when the average price per acre of farmland was just over $6,000 in northwest and west central Ohio.
"Farmland investments have yielded an average annual return of 10.74%, based on data from my company," Dye wrote in the newsletter.
Farmland sales reduction
As prices have remained steady, less farmland has been sold.
According to Jay Van Gorden, area sales manager with Farmers National, the past six months have seen an increased reduction in land for sale.
"Farm commodity prices have come back down, so profitability is down substantially in the farming community, and also we had this big three-year run where people had been holding land for five or six years and not selling because prices weren't doing anything," Van Gorden said.
Acrevalue.com says the average sales price per acre during the fourth quarter of 2024 was $9,805, the highest of any quarter during the year. Each of the last three years has had its highest average sales price per acre in the fourth quarter.
What goes into values?
Expected crop return and the variability of crop return can affect land values and cash rental rates, according to The Ohio State University Extension Agriculture & Natural Resources.
Land that exhibits highly variable returns may have rents or value discounted for this factor. For example, poorly drained land may exhibit variability of returns due to late plantings during wet springs.
Other factors such as land and soil quality, fertility levels, drainage and irrigation capabilities, the size of farms and fields, the size and shape of fields, location, market access, local grain market prices, previous tillage systems or crops, field border characteristics, and wildlife damage potential can affect land values and cash rental rates.