Farm ground prices

Recent land auctions in the area, 4000 acres averaged $6200+. 388 acres $7550. The guy that bought the 388 really didn't need it. He farms as a hobby. Displaced some farmers that could really use it. Don't guess I'll be buying any.

Does not matter if the guy that bought the 338 acres needed it or not, that is not the issue. If he had the money, that is the issue. If I have a god zillion dollars and want to buy the county, that is what America is about.

Here in Central Mo land is averageing $2200 - $2400 per acre. Hunting and recreational land is bringing more than farm land. Go figure.


Gene

If he didn't buy it some big BTO would. I have no problem with a hobby farmer buying ground. He will probably enjoy it more then other farmers would have.

That's true here too. Open cornfields are a little less than wooded parcels.

Pretty steep price ($7750/acre) and size (388 acres) to call it a hobby farm. Appears he is just a relatively wealthy, part-time farmer. Although the price looks high, if he has the cash probably better to have it in a hard asset rather than wait and have it dwindle to a small sum with the impending hyper-inflation.

What is your area? Westcentral Ia-$5,000.

Just My opinion but buying land at these prices are nothing but a drain on you for 20 0r 30 years if you have to borrow the money and in that case the land would have to double in price to break even. Didn't any body learn any thing from the recent housing bubble where people were hoping the price would keep going up. $3 corn will not support 6thousand dollar land. you can argue there not making any more of it but they sure have a lot of unused land in south america and russia that can come into production at a lot cheaper cost

I can appreciate your frustration. I'm trying to farm in a similar situation but we don't see the prices you do. I've needed to grow size-wise to offset the increased cost of putting in crops for several years but cannot. If this keeps going on, I don't see a future for myself in farming. People don't realize that the younger generation is not handed everything free and clear all the time. Financial progress is slower with the more debt and resulting interest one has to service. Yes, I did work off the farm as much as possible most of my adult years. Right now I'm not working (not by choice) and the Western New York economy is especially weak.
I apologize if I sound sensitive (raw) but I am getting beat by a wealthy hobby farmer and not enjoying it. It especially irritates me because hearing from multiple sources he has a real low opinion of people outside his elite status in life.
I disagree with those who say farmland is an automatic hedge against the current economy. Just in the 20th century, you had severe fallbacks after World War 1, the Great Depression, and the 1980's. Land had a mild fall back during the 1960's. All this takes is not finding buyers that can pay the going asking price. I would say this describes well over 90% of young farmers out there. Again, I'll have to say that a price of something like farmland eventually has to come back inline with its ability to pay for itself (just like housing).
Sorry to ramble on but this topic strikes a nerve with me.