Investors Purchased 3 of 4 Tillable Tracts in Recent Iowa Land Sale

A central Iowa farm sale attracted 64 bidders and seven winning buyers, with competitive bidding from investors and farmers driving up the price per tract. The 530.96-acre farm in Greene County, west of Churdan, was divided into eight tracts and sold for an average of $10,750 per acre, totaling about $5.7 million. 

Matt Adams with Peoples Co. was in charge of the April 3 auction and says the price didn’t come as a surprise as the land was valued between $5.2-6 million. What did surprise him was the number of individual buyers who bid on the property.

“Normally we have one person who buys all the tillable acres,” he said. The seven final buyers included a range of farmers and investors. The investors included a mix of people with different motivations, Adams said. One of them had 1031 exchange money to use, which allows owners to sell a property and reinvest the proceeds into a replacement property to defer capital gains taxes. Two planned to lease to farming family members, and one owned adjoining property and wanted to expand their acreage. “Three of our four tillable tracts were bought by investors, not farmers,” he added. “The farmer was not as aggressive as the investor was.”

Of the 64 registered bidders, 37 attended the auction in person and the other 27 were online. There was a lot of active bidding and a bidding war on three of the tracts, which Adams described as selling “phenomenally well.” In addition to the group of people bidding, a large group of spectators came to watch the sale.

Sellers

The land was sold by the Coleen M. Janssen Estate. Janssen was the longtime owner of the farmland and never married or had children. When she passed away in September 2024, the land was left to a large group of more than 20 family members. Those family members, according to Adams, decided to sell the land knowing that it would be difficult to have a large group of owners. Adams also says none of the family members were farmers. 

Janssen had leased the ground to the same local family who farmed it since 1979. Jerome Monahan was part of that family. He says his mom and dad, Marie and Eugene, started farming the land and he took over in 1987 when his father retired. Monahan says his family had a strong relationship with Janssen and her mother, Kathleen, who owned the land before her passing in the early 2000s. 

From the beginning of that partnership, the rental agreement was for a crop share, which isn’t as common anymore but was at the time. True to a crop-share agreement, Monahan said he and Janssen split the input expenses and crop earnings in half instead of paying rent for the ground.

The Land and Buyers

Tract 1 

• Acres: 80 total and 74.83 Farm Service Agency (FSA) tillable acres
• Selling price: $12,700 per acre
• Corn Sustainability Rating (CSR2): 87.5
• Soil type: Nicollet clay loam, Clarion loam, and Webster clay loam. Classified as non-highly erodible land (NHEL).
• Buyer: Adams says the buyer is an Iowa investor and plans to lease the land.
• Additional information: There are 10-inch county drainage tile lines located on the western half of the tract with water flowing south off the farm, as well as three tile intakes. The farm is leased for the 2025 growing season and an estimated rent credit of $22,275 ($300 per tillable acre) will be given at closing. 

Tract 2

• Acres: 120 total and 117.43 FSA tillable acres
• Selling price: $12,100 per acre
• CSR2: 82.3
• Soil type: Canisteo clay loam, Nicollet clay loam, and Clarion loam. Classified as NHEL.
• Buyer: Adams says the buyer is an Iowa investor who plans to lease it to a farming family member.
• Additional information: County drainage tile lines are located on the property ranging in size from 6-10 inches, draining water east and south off the farm. There are five tile intakes on the farm. The farm is leased for the 2025 growing season and estimated rent credit of $35,229 ($300 per tillable acre) will be given at closing. 

Tract 3

• Acres: 76.89 total and 73.36 FSA tillable acres
• Selling price: $12,700 per acre
• CSR2: 88.2
• Soil type: Nicollet clay loam, Clarion loam, and Canisteo clay. Classified as NHEL.
• Buyer: Adams says an Iowa investor plans to lease the land to a farming family member.
• CRP: 10.6 acres are enrolled in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Farmable Wetland Program with an annual payment of $3,686 ($348 per acre). Contract expires September 2026.
• Additional information: 56.34 acres are farmed and 6.42 acres are used as pasture ground. The farm is leased for the 2025 growing season and an estimated rent credit of $16,902 ($300 per farmed acre) will be given at closing. County drainage tile lines are located on the property and there is one tile intake. A metal cattle shed and grain bin are included on the tract.

Tract 4

• Acres: 65.4 total and 59.80 FSA cropland acres  
• Selling price: $11,100 per acre
• CSR2: 82.2 
• Soil type: Webster clay loam, Nicollet clay loam, and Clarion loam. The farmland is certified as highly erodible land (HEL).
• Buyer: Local farmer.
• Additional information: 1.28 acres certified as grass that make up a waterway. There are grass buffer strips that each have a tile intake. There is an existing fence line between tracts 4 and 5. The farm is leased for the 2025 growing season and an estimated rent credit of $16,093 ($275 per acre) will be given at closing. 

Tract 5

• Acres: 135.42 total with 92 FSA cropland acres
• Selling price: $7,000 per acre
• CSR2: 79
• Soil type: Clarion loam and Nicollet clay loam. Certified as HEL.
• CRP: 92 acres enrolled in three programs:
• 2.10 acres enrolled in the Pollinator Habitat program with an annual payment of $601 ($286 per acre). This contract expires in September 2026.  
• 9 acres enrolled in the Pollinator Habitat program with an annual payment of $2,238 ($249 per acre). This contract expires in September 2032.  
• 80.9 acres enrolled in the Prairie Restoration program with an annual payment of $23,771 ($294 per acre). This contract expires in September 2032. 
• Buyer: Local part-time farmer and investor.
• Additional information: A small creek runs through the tract. A cement crossing is in place to access the western side. 

Tract 6

• Acres: 27.55 total with 13.6 FSA cropland acres
• Selling price: $10,300 per acre
• CSR2: 68.2
• Soil type: Lester loam and Moingona loam. Certified as HEL.
• CRP: 13.6 acres enrolled in the Pollinator Habitat program with an annual payment of $3,895 ($286 per acre). This contract will expire in September 2026. 
• Buyer: Local business owner who owned connecting property.  
• Additional information: This is recreational land with access to the North Raccoon River. 

Tract 7

• Acres: 22.59 total with 3 FSA cropland acres
• Selling price: $10,300 per acre
• CRS2: 77.9  
• Soil type: Clarion loam and Lester loam.
• CRP: 3 acres enrolled in Pollinator Habitat program with an annual payment of $860 ($286 per acre). This contract will expire in September 2026.
• Buyer: Local family who owned connecting property.
• Additional information: No rural water provider. 

Tract 8

• Acres: 3.11 total 
• Selling price: $73,000 for entire property (sold as whole dollar amount)
• Buyer: Same local family that purchased Tract 7.
• Additional information: Older farm site with a home and several outbuildings, including three grain bins, steel building, three barns, and a machine shed.

Economic Perspective

The 2024 Iowa State University Land Value Survey says the average price per acre for farmland in Iowa is $11,467. This is a slight decrease of 3.1%, or $369 per acre, from 2023. 

The survey also sheds light on who is buying farmland:

• 70% were existing farmers, of which existing local farmers captured 68% of land sales and only 2% were to farmers who were relocating
• 4% were new farmers
• 23% were investors, with 12% for local investors and 11% to non-local investors
• 3% were other purchasers

Other institutions are also keeping an eye on credit conditions and the future of farmland values. 

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago puts out quarterly survey results in its AgLetter. The latest one released in February, says farm real estate loan volumes in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin were forecasted to be smaller in the first three months of this year compared with the same three months of 2024. 

However, non-real-estate loan volumes were forecasted to be larger in the first three months of 2025 compared with the same time frame a year ago. Survey respondents predicted capital expenditures for land purchases or improvements, buildings and facilities, machinery and equipment, and trucks and autos would be lower.

As for the future of farmland values, The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago says although there will likely be variability in sales prices, only 4% of responding bankers projected agricultural land values to go up in the first quarter of 2025. Just over a quarter of bankers predicted they would go down. 

Adams says he is seeing a lot of variability in central Iowa. When buyers are using a 1031 exchange to buy land or when there is competition with tenants or neighbors who want the ground, it goes for a much higher price. But he’s also noticing farmers who bought land in the last five years, still have debt to pay off and aren’t buying as much as in previous years. “There is not as much irrational exuberance in the farm space,” he said. “These buyers are more cautious.”

Produced in partnership with American Farmland Owner (AFO). AFO aims to help landowners make informed decisions for their farmland while ensuring the prosperity of American agriculture.