Wendong Zhang, associate professor, was a guest on the Nov. 29 Iowa Farm Bureau podcast, "What’s driving rising farmland prices? | The Spokesman Speaks Podcast, Episode 88."
"If you are going to the auctions, you'll no longer be surprised when you hear about the parcels selling for $14,000, $16,000, because last week there was, I think, $22,000, $26,000 sales all over the place in Iowa. Land value roughly equals income divided by interest rates, so if the interest rate is capped fairly low, near historical lows, by the Federal Reserve in part because there are drastic cuts in March 2020 to deal with COVID-19 uncertainties. So that, definitely, is a major factor. In 2020 we also saw substantial CFAP payments at $46 billion payments injected into agricultural economy. You'll be surprised how many people who actually are able to go there and buy the $15,000 per acre parcels 80 acres in cash."