Land Sale in Missouri Sets New Record

Move over Iowa, there’s a new record farmland sale on the books. A piece of Missouri farmland underwent rapid-fire bidding, which racked the final price tag up to $34,800 per acre. The recent sale now beats out the previous record of $30,000 per acre in Iowa.

According to the bill of sale from Dyer and Fenner Auctioneers, the record sale happened last Thursday in Saline County, Mo. Two farmers got in a bidding war, and in just 15 minutes the 115 acres sold for $34,800 an acre, setting the new record.

The buyer wasn’t an investor. The winning bid came from a farmer by the name of Jeff Baxter from neighboring Carroll County, Mo. According to area farmers, the competing bidder was a farmer who’s home farm touches the land that was for sale.

Jim Rothermich of Iowa Appraisal says the bidding started at $15,000 an acre for the piece of ground that had been in the same family for four generations.

“It happened in 15 minutes, and that’s a fast auction,” says Rothermich. “That was rapid-fire bidding. There couldn't have been any hesitation at bidding. It was a fast auction with a more than $4-million deal resulting. There were two bidders, each on a mission that somebody was going to buy that farm, and it all happened very fast.”

Rothermich says the land market has definitely seen a slowdown, but this just proves if it’s high-quality ground—and the buyer has cash—anything is possible.

“What surprises me is the last time we've seen a record price was November 10, 2022. It was $30,000 an acre in Sioux County, Iowa, and it was 73 acres,” says Rothermich. “I thought that record would last for a couple of years, or at least until we got back to $7 corn or $8 corn. Well, that record didn't even last a year. And not only did we go past it, we blew past that previous record.”

Source: AgWeb