Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights 2020-2021

Introduction The Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights 2020-2021 report represents the 43rd edition to the annual series. These reports provide an important insight on agricultural land market dynamics for stakeholders across Nebraska. In today’s market, where market transactions exceeding $1 million dollars are the norm, objective market information and analysis is more critical than ever. The focus of the report continues to be on providing unbiased information for agricultural land values and rental rates so industry participants can make educated and informed decisions. This year, the February 2021 survey of nearly 120 expert panel members from across the state provided current information and insight regarding the agricultural land market conditions in their areas. The panel members have been selected on the basis of being actively engaged in agricultural land markets as certified agricultural appraisers, professional farm managers, agricultural lenders primarily focused on agricultural land transactions, and other professionals engaged in the Nebraska agricultural land industry due to the inherit nature of their positions. The majority of panelists participating in the survey have reported annually for a considerable number of years, which provides valuable historical consistency and context to the agricultural land values and rental rates provided. Based on their knowledge of market activity, reporters provide point-in-time estimates of current agricultural land values and cash rental rates for a variety of land types and classes. Comparing these current measures against previous years’ results provides important trend analysis. The appendix in this report includes: the historical UNL data series for Nebraska agricultural land values dating back to 1978, the agricultural cash rental rate series dating back to 1981, and the USDA historical all-land value series. In addition to the point-in-time estimates, panel members provide details regarding actual sales transactions which have occurred over the previous 12 months. This year, the panel provided information on 517 sales that were considered representative of the recent agricultural land market. This gives insight into the characteristics of recent sales as well as benchmark indicators for studying trends. Changes in the nature of market participants engaged in land transactions from year to year may also be ascertained from evaluating this information