Farmland prices are historically high across the country, including in the Miami Valley. Land has been selling for well over ten thousand dollars an acre across the region over the past few months.
Dave Baird is a farmer and an accountant from Clark County. He said the current economic climate is the perfect storm for high prices: farmers have a lot of cash in their pockets after two good growing seasons in 2020 and 2021, interest rates are extremely low which makes financing easier, and a low supply of land on the market so demand is high.
“It just seems like a year ago, prices were in the nine to $10000 [an acre] range," Baird said. "Here recently, we've skipped eleven thousand and twelve thousand and went straight to the thirteen thousands.”
Baird said owning farmland is also becoming a better and better investment because it can be more stable than the stock market but gives a better return than Certificate of Deposits (or CDs).
But Baird said he does worry what the high land prices combined with the growing cost of equipment will mean for young farmers trying to break into the industry.
Environmental reporter Chris Welter is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
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