Market data

The numbers land agents quote to sellers and buyers: land values, sales trends and program expirations such as CRP. Each report names its sources and when the data was pulled.

What a ready buyer would pay for your parcel today, and the best evidence is recent sales of similar land nearby. Statewide averages show the trend and a rough range, not the price of a particular 80 acres.

CSR2 is Iowa State's 5-to-100 rating of how productive a soil is for row crops, and Iowa land values and cash rents climb steadily with it. A farm's figure averages the soils on its tillable acres, so look at the soil map, not just the number.

It varies most with soil quality and county. USDA publishes state and county averages every year, Iowa rents track CSR2 closely, and our cash rent report has the current figures with their sources.