About Barber County, KS

Kansas may seem isolated but everything farmers do now days is connected to the worldwide markets. Following the trends may help you decide when is the best time to sell. More and more data is available these days on farmland values across the world. And the general news headlines at the various agriculture news outlets show that the consensus is that farmland values are going up nearly everywhere not just in the United States. Here's a quick look at some recent posts on the international market.

CANADA - Nova Scotia - Canadian Farm Values Increase by Atlantic Farm Focus of Canada. Increases were from 2-5% across the board - much less than the recent increases in the corn belt of the USA. Strong demand and limited supply are the reasons just as here in the states. High quality farmland is the highest in demand and lower quality parcels are having trouble selling.

RUSSIA - AgriMoney - Grain export ban dents rebound in Russian farmland - Farms can, unlike in Ukraine, also be bought outright rather than leased, although only through a Russian-based entity. Prices are $500 per hectare so they are attractive to investors but the export ban is causing issues.

BRAZIL - Reuters.com - Analysis: Brazil farms poised for record investment boom - this is very telling article because it focuses on all the benefits of good farm income - companies like John Deere and others will see record profits as adjuncts to the boom in farmland and farming profits.

Worldwide - Philly.com - Fertile ground for investors: Farmlands Yields on farmland can be quite good, and not just in crops. For investors, the opportunities are growing was the headline and discussed that the importance of worldwide food demand will continue to make farmland an attractive investment everywhere.

And the big news was Shiller yet again saying Go for Gold with Farmland - it's his only bullish call.

INVESTMENT NEWS - Farmland - Green acres best bet for making green, Yale's Shiller says Limited supply will drive prices of farmland up over the next decade; stocks will come a-cropper

And the bubble topic popped up again....this time probably due to lack of data or lack of full data. Check ou the analysis by AgWeb.com of this headline in local newspaper - Discount Newspaper Report On Farmland Bubble Burst In Minnesota. Mike Walsten covers all sorts of topics this week on farmland values including: Wall Street Advisor Talks Up Farmland As An Investment, Study Finds No Link Between Biofuels And Land Use In Other Countries, and Cropland Up 20% Central Plains, Fed Bank Survey.

And a very interesting note is this article talking about hedge funds and their ownership of farming operations. If you are considering purchasing farmland as an investment this is definitely worth your time to read.

New York Observer - Hedge Funds turn to Agriculture - Hedge Farm! The Doomsday Food Price Scenario Turning Hedgies into Survivalists

If you are thinking of selling your property in Kansas and need county farmland value information for Kansas please contact us for a free report.

The Farmland Price index is a monthly index value done by Creighton University and it is number from 0 to 100 and is based up surveys of rural banks in agriculture areas including Kansas. The states in the Farmland Price Index include Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

The overall reading is now 75 which is down from 77.6 last month. A number greater than 50 is indication that land prices are going up. Kansas is higher than the overall reading this month which coincides with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Fed report indicating that Kansas land values were up again for the first quarter of 2011. However, the prime land sales season is now cooling off as farmers are busy with fall crop plantings and gearing up for wheat harvest. Rents on farmland are also up along with values according to the banker surveys by the Feds. The Dakotas are still very strong with North Dakota at 84.1 the highest price index and South Dakota in second at 80.3 while all the other states are below 80 in the mid to upper 70s range on the index chart.

Chart of Recent Activity of Farmland Price Index for Kansas farmland values

The Confidence Index, which tracks bankers' expectations for the rural economy six months out bounced back up to 64 from its fall to 61 last month.

If you would like more information about Kansas land values in your county please contact us.

The headline at Farmland Forecast entitled "Shiller's Bullish Call is Farmland" written by Colvin & Co. which is an agriculture-focused investment management firm that specializes in helping investors with farmland in the corn belt is yet another article on Shiller's Bullish Call for Farmland.

Robert Shiller is an economics professor at Yale University who has written extensively on the subprime crisis and real estate ethical issues including writings on financial markets, financial innovation, behavioral economics, macroeconomics, real estate, statistical methods, and on public attitudes, opinions, and moral judgments regarding markets.

He was speaking at Investment Management Consultants Association's annual conference in Las Vegas and he spoke about farmland as being one of the only investments that will provide a good return over the next 10 years. He said that stocks will be low and gain only 2-3%.

“My only bullish call is farmland,” he said. The reason farmland has held much of the gains that it built up during the real estate bubble, he said, is because, unlike housing, there is a limited supply.

“A single logical error that people make when buying a home is that they think buying a home is the same as buying land,” he said. “But in the total price of a house, only 20% is the land.”

He also talked about our financial shape and how it is worse now even though the recession is over. He also talked about the real unemployment rate which is effectively 15.9% taking in other factors. Consumer confidence is low and he points out that is going to be a major problem because when confidence is low that means spending is low.

The full article reviewing Mr. Shiller's presentation is at Investment News. One thing that is particularly interesting is that he said the rumblings were in the market as early as 2004 and that the commercial markets felt it first so watching for any unsettling signs in the farmland market early on will be the best warning signal for farmland investors. However, farmers themselves usually have more than a ten year outlook so even though farmland may be a popular tool for investors, farmers are the real true investors of land over time and recent high incomes for farmers as reported by the Fed and other banking news shows that Shiller is probably right on target for good returns for your farmland investment.

If you are considering investing in farmland and would like market information in a particular county in Kansas please contact us at 800-557-9151

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City issued its First Quarter 2011 Survey of Tenth District Agricultural Credit Conditions Report and all values in Kansas are reported as being up. Surprisingly ranchland or pastureland had a fairly large increase this time as compared to previous reports where it stayed relatively flat.

Summary as follows for the year through March period.

Non-irrigated cropland values up approx. 24%, Irrigated cropland values up about 18% and Pasture values up approx. 11%.

Table 1 from the Survey of Tenth District Agricultural Credit Conditions

First Quarter 2011 report by Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Farm income increases continue to be a contributing factor in land values and farmers expand their operations and have cash to use to purchase more land. An interesting point was that farm loan demand remained weak because of the strong liquidity of farmers allowing them to use cash rather than debt for operating expenses.

Some Kansas Banker Comments from the survey included the following...from South Central and SW Kansas.

Operating lines of credit are smaller due to excellent income last year.

We have had a lot of oil and gas leases in the last three months, paying a higher rate per acre.

The Survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions is a survey of 256 banks in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, New Mexico and Missouri. This is a survey of bankers which is an important point to remember on the numbers in this survey. These are only numbers that bankers are providing and this does not include an entire market picture. Cash sales, small even owner financed land sales or leaseback transactions are not included and usually prices in those transactions will be less than in purchases where a bank loan is needed. Even with farmland all prices remain local and these numbers are not necessarily reflective of most of the markets in Kansas. Some auctions can cause inflated prices and drive up the numbers substantially with just one or two sales and distort the numbers and the true market value picture. For help in finding values for your farmland call Kansas Land Brokers at 800-557-9151.

As much as it seems that all real estate is local it is hard not to see trends and patterns with farmland all over the world. Something happening thousands of miles away can certainly have an impact on Kansas farmland values and the rural economy.

A summary of some recent international news on farmland market values.

Uruguay’s farmland price jumped eight times from 2002 to 2010 - The number of farmland transactions and the price per hectare were up in Uruguay during 2010. They have approximately 16 million hectares of farm land.

English farmland values up 11% in 12 months reports Farmland Forecast along with other headlines about farmland values including U.S. farmland gaining in value, fed economist says. We recently reported on the bubble bursting talk that has re-surfaced again this month and with more reports about upward land values the bubble debate will continue on.

Canadian Farmland Rises over 2% in 2010 reported by Farm Credit Canada, the nation's leading agricultural lender is from several quarters and shows actual increase of 5% or more over last year. Farmland prices are going up almost everywhere now it seems.