Wendong Zhang, assistant professor, was quoted in a March 9 Successful Farming story "How Farmland is Valued."
Wendong Zhang is an extension economist at Iowa State University. He says in general, the value of an acre of land is the negotiated price between a buyer and a seller. It also depends on the characteristics of that land such as soil quality, location, and income from the land.
"The source of income could be coming from better productivity, so better soil quality, percent of prime farmland versus more of a sandy soil," says Zhang. "And also whether you have proximity to urban centers or highways which give you what is primarily the option value of future urban development, so you have the option to convert the land into a non-ag use. That is increasingly important."
Also the Iowa State University Land Value Survey was cited in the March 12 Ag Week, "Stable land values continue into 2020."