The northern two tiers of counties in Northwest Iowa and nearby areas of South Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota were hit with devastating flooding in late June. The record setting flooding reached levels above the infamous 1993 flood on multiple rivers including the Little Sioux, Big Sioux, Rock, Ocheyedan, West Des Moines, and others.
The volume of sales after a very active real estate market in 2022 & 2023 has dropped back to a more normal flow. We looked at results of “cropland only” land sales from the first of the year through the end of June. These parcels were 85% or more tillable with no substantial building improvements within our trade territory. It showed 9,049 acres were sold so far in 2024 compared to 11,727 acres at the same point in 2023. It is typical to see most land auctions occur in the second half of the year.
Landowners have several options when considering what to do with their farmland. Fixed-cash rent, flexible cash rent, crop share, and custom farming are the main types. The fixed-cash rent and custom farming are complete opposites from an owner involvement standpoint, but they are also the two most popular choices among our clients. Flexible rent and crop share leases are harder to compare because they can be arranged in a variety of ways depending on the owner’s goals and the quality of the farm, so the results vary widely depending on the details. In this article we compare fixed-cash rent with custom farming.
After several years of planning and construction, Platinum Crush, LLC has begun operations west of our office in Storm Lake, Iowa. With this new processing facility comes another outlet for the soybeans we produce in Northwest Iowa. Our hope is this new outlet will provide our local soybean market with the same type of opportunities as the ethanol industry provided to the corn market 15 years ago
The American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers recognized Kent Smith for being a 40-year member of this professional organization. Kent began his Professional Farm Management career in 1983 after receiving his B.S. degree in Agricultural Economics. He joined Stalcup Ag Service in 1987 and currently serves as President of the company.