November 2025 Wallace’s Farmer MarketPlace Extra

I write this article in the first week of October,  harvest 2025 is well underway. For the past week, the Iowa skyline has carried a dusty haze from the incredible pace of soybean harvest, while corn harvest is also building a head of steam.  Today, much of the State will take a rain break, as the weather has changed from summer-like temps back to something more seasonal.

Soybean reports so far show yields at or slightly above expectations, while the early corn has also been good, but slightly below 45-days-ago expectations. For the corn, fields were simply too wet, which invited heavy disease pressure. Then, as August ended and September rolled in, the weather turned dry. That combination seems to have trimmed the very top end off those corn yields.

As for the Iowa farmland market, the early flush of public auction sales that occur every year leading up to harvest, occurred as usual. Results of those sales were stable – and even maybe a touch stronger than I anticipated. No new records, but certainly widespread interest in those farms that were offered. I think these stable results really surprised some who watch the land market, as commodity prices are below breakeven levels, input expenses for 2026 are proving very sticky to come down, and you don’t have to look very hard for a story in the ag press about how difficult things are right now in agriculture, financially-speaking.

But these results reflect the “long-game” mindset that defines production agriculture, and the knowledge that ownership and expansion opportunities only surface occasionally.  Land is the lifeblood of production agriculture.  Even when the economics don’t look ideal on paper, farm operators and land investors are still trying to figure out a way to compete when an adjoining or attractive nearby farm comes to the market.  And because opportunities remain limited—with fewer farms for sale in 2025—competition continues to underpin market strength.  As the sales below attest, even with what seems like a weakening ag economy, the land market is not yet weak.

NORTHWEST

Cherokee County:

Located southwest of Cherokee, 160 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $17,000 per acre. The farm consisted of 154 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 (Corn Suitability Rating index) of 85.6, and equaled $206 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

NORTH CENTRAL

Mitchell County:

Located south of Little Cedar, 80 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $16,600 per acre. The farm consisted of 77 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 86.6, and equaled $199 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

NORTHEAST

Winneshiek County:

Located northeast of Calmar, 62 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $10,500 per acre. The farm consisted of 61 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 52.3, and equaled $204 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

WEST CENTRAL

Calhoun County:

Located southwest of Rockwell City, 69 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $10,400 per acre. The farm consisted of 69 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 85.5, and equaled $122 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

CENTRAL

Hardin County:

Located south of Iowa Falls, 151 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $15,400 per acre. The farm consisted of 148 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 87.3, and equaled $180 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

EAST CENTRAL

Benton County:

Located southwest of Mount Auburn, 107 +/- acres recently sold for $14,350 per acre. The farm consisted of 101 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 89.5, and equaled $170 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

SOUTHWEST

Adair County:

Located east of Orient, 81 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $11,200 per acre. The farm consisted of 77 +/- tillable acres with an average CSR2 of 58.9, and equaled $200 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres. Note: This land also featured 2 windmill leases with an unknown/unpublished payment.

SOUTH CENTRAL

Union County:

Located north of Creston, 79 +/- acres recently sold at public auction for $9,400 per acre. This farm consisted of 76 +/- tillable acres with an average CSR2 of 65.1, and equaled $150 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.  Note: This land also featured 2 windmill leases with an unknown/unpublished payment. 

SOUTHEAST

Van Buren County:

Located northeast of Bonaparte, 82 +/- acres recently sold for $12,500 per acre. The farm consisted of 74 +/- tillable acres with a CSR2 of 73.8, and equaled $188 per CSR2 point on the tillable acres.

Hensley is president of Hertz Real Estate Services, which compiled this list, but did not handle all sales. Call Hertz at  800-593-5263  or visit hertz.ag.

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