Farmland Prices at Plateau?

Bloomington, IL April 2, 2026 — Prices being paid for Illinois farmland seem to have plateaued according to authors of articles in the 2026 Illinois Land Values and Lease Trends Report released here today at the annual Land Values Conference hosted by the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers (ISPFMRA).

In an article Farmland Price Expectations for 2026 co-authored by Gary Schnitkey, Ph.D., University of Illinois Department of Ag and Consumer Economics, and Juo-Han Tsay, Ph. D., assistant director, TIAA Center for Farmland Research, the two noted that respondents to the annual survey sponsored by ISPFMRA “indicate that farmland prices have reached a plateau. About 61 percent of respondents expect farmland prices to decline in 2026.  Still, most of the respondents expect farmland prices to increase in the next five years.

“According to the survey, 61 percent of the respondents expect farmland prices to decline in 2026. In total, 50 percent of the respondents expect farmland prices to decline between 0 and 5 percent, while 11 percent expect prices to decline between 5 and 10 percent. Of the remaining respondents, 25 percent expect farmland prices to remain the same while 14 percent expect an increase,” say the two.

This is borne out by average and median sales prices paid during 2025 using Excellent Quality farmland, as the example, with a decline of 3.17 percent in average price ($15,846 per acre) and -3.18 percent on median price paid ($15,984 pr acre). Average price paid for Average Quality land was down .60 percent to$9,933 while the media dropped 4.01 percent to $9,436 per acre. These are as covered in the Report.

According to Luke Worrell, AFM, ALC, with Worrell Land Services, Jacksonville, IL and general chairman of the Farmland Values Survey & Conference “As you will read [in the Report] there was a lot of activity in Illinois agricultural in 2025. Largely reported was continued movement in a downward direction from the euphoric highs and crazy markets of 2021-2023. Volatility in our grain and land markets is something for which we have all grown accustomed. We should continue to expect it. There is no shortage of ‘news’ that impacts us here in Illinois agriculture. It isn’t simply weather as it might have once been. Markets shift on a dime these days for the Illinois farmer. Swings can be triggered by anything from a tweet to tariffs, Brazil to China, and on and on. These topics have continued to move our markets here in the early part of 2026. While the data in the [Report] highlights 2025, we are largely experiencing the same dynamics at time of publication.”

Rents are flat

According to Schnitkey and Tsay, “Incomes were about the same for rented farmland in 2025 as in 2026. Cash rents increased slightly going into 2026 and are not expected to decline into 2027”.

For Excellent quality farmland, Traditional Crop Shares averaged an income of $250 per acre, cash rents averaged $300 per acre, and custom farming averaged $375 per acre. Custom farming resulted in the highest return among these arrangements.

In 2026 35 percent of arrangements are Traditional Cash Rent with Traditional Crop Share and Variable Cash Rent tied at 27 percent each.

Other Survey Highlights

• ­81 percent expect the agricultural economy to contract modestly. That percentage is lower than in 2025, when 93 percent expected the agricultural economy to contract.
• More than half (60 percent) of the survey respondents expect interest rates to decrease in 2026. Declining interest rates would be expected to positively impact farmland prices.
• 72 percent expect corn prices to bebetween  $4.00 and $4.50 per bushel while 19 percent expect prices paid to be under $4.00 and only 4 percent expect it to be over $5.00.
• Over half (69 percent) of respondents expect costs to increase in 2026. Most respondents expected costs to remain the same when asked in the 2025 survey.
• Survey respondents estimated that 62 percent of land purchases required some form of debt financing. Of those financing with debt, the amount of debt financing averaged 54 percent of the purchase price.
• Farmers accounted for 58 percent of the buyers, with 56 percent being local farmers and 2 percent being relocating farmers. Individual investors who would not farm the land were the next largest group, accounting for 34 percent of the buyers. Local investors accounted for 16 percent of the buyers and non-local investors accounted for 12 percent. Institutions accounted for 8 percent of all buyers

-30-

Editorial Contacts

Luke Worrell

Worrell Land Services

217-245-1618

lukew@worrell-landservies.com

Gary Schnitkey, Ph.D.

University of Illinois

217-898-3762

schnitke@illinois.edu

Juo-Han Tsay

University of Illinois

608-556-6388

beckytsay@gmail.com