U.S. Farmland Values Hit a Record Despite Trade Fears

  • Gains biggest in Southern Plains as pastured properties rise
  • Missouri sees largest increase; Minnesota, Kansas lose value
A sale barn sits along a rural road at Plow Creek Farm in Tiskilwa, Illinois, U.S.Photographer: Daniel Acker
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While crop groups have sounded the alarm over U.S. trade wars, here’s one measure that shows part of the agricultural economy is still vibrant: U.S. farmland values just rose to a record.

Average farmland valuesBloomberg Terminal nationwide have increased 1.9 percent to $3,140 an acre so far this year from 2017, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The gain signals that investors are focusing on farmland as a longer-term investment, and may consider the trade tensions to be short term.