SW MINNESOTA COUNTY FARM LAND PRICES 1997-2009
Prepared by David Bau, Jim Nesseth 2002-2003 and Erlin Weness 1999-2001
The amounts listed below are the prices paid per acre for total farmland (not tillable acres) in each listed
county. The data is from farm sales recorded from January 1st through June 30th of the respective years. The
data includes only bare land sales. No land and building combination sales are included. The information is
from actual arm’s length sales reported to county authorities and collected by personnel of the University of
Minnesota Extension. Sales data was not weighted for acres, each sale on a per acre basis was averaged to get
the average price paid per acre. In 2005 added counties Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, Redwood and Yellow
Medicine to study.
County
Chippewa
Cottonwood
Jackson
1999
NA
$1262
$1756
NA
2000
NA
$1308
$1833
Lac qui Parle
NA
No
Sales
Lincoln
$774
Lyon
NA
NA
Martin
$1788 $2057
Murray
$1181 $913
Nobles
$1528 $1481
Pipestone
$993 $1067
Redwood
NA
NA
Rock
$1600 $1494
Watonwan
$1552 $1628
Yellow Med.
NA
NA
Average
$1458 $1395
2001
NA
$1721
$1891
$1006
$634
$1524
$2068
$1323
$1728
$950
NA
$1748
$1635
NA
$1475
2002
NA
$1467
$1930
$1032
$1029
$1144
$1930
$1501
$1762
$1168
NA
$2066
$1858
NA
$1535
2003
NA
$1625
$1790
$1220
$1223
$1676
$2091
$1672
$1928
$1334
NA
$1926
$1842
NA
$1666
2004
NA
$1854
$2111
$1461
$1172
$1878
$2476
$2039
$2238
$1851
NA
$2139
$2193
NA
$1947
2005
$2481
$2439
$2671
$1742
$1509
$2012
$2871
$2183
$2411
$1880
$2705
$2369
$2337
$2055
$2262
2006
$2582
$2853
$2969
$1933
$1624
$2303
$3092
$2286
$2882
$2127
$2743
$2992
$3112
$2537
$2574
2007
$2615
$3005
$3332
$2217
$2401
$2207
$3478
$2500
$3393
$2409
$2880
$3912
$3103
$2429
$2849
2008
$3776
$4423
$4425
$2474
$2343
$3912
$3783
$3523
$4126
$3386
$3759
$5052
$3642
$3203
$3702
2009 Highest, Lowest and Average Recorded Price Paid Per Acre and
Crop Equivalency Rate (CER) and price per CER
County &
Number Sales
Chippewa (14)
Cottonwood (8)
Jackson (12)
Lac qui Parle (6)
Lincoln (10)
Lyon (15)
Martin (7)
Murray (24)
Nobles (12)
Pipestone (8)
Redwood (20)
Rock (5)
Watonwan (13)
Yellow Medicine(21)
High
Average
Low
$5132
$4249
$5000
$3688
$4250
$7537
$5150
$6100
$7700
$4551
$5425
$6175
$5300
$4502
$3,932
$2,798
$3,999
$3,138
$2,917
$2,908
$4,446
$3,700
$3,939
$3,680
$4,158
$5,221
$4,000
$3,425
$2985
$984
$2809
$2356
$2100
$1462
$3955
$2185
$1594
$3129
$3151
$4930
$2744
$2049
Average
CER
65
63
78
57
58
60
NA
69
69
72
69
94
72
63
Price
Paid/CER/Acre
$60.49
$44.41
$51.27
$55.05
$50.29
$48.47
NA
$53.62
$57.09
$51.11
$60.26
$55.54
$55.56
$54.37
2009
$3,932
$2,798
$3,999
$3,138
$2,917
$2,908
$4,446
$3,700
$3,939
$3,680
$4,158
$5,221
$4,000
$3,425
$3,733
Comparison of Actual Farmland Sales Prices with Assessors Estimated Market Value
Farmland sales from January 1 – June 30, 2009
County
Average Actual
Sale Price
$381,170
$339,412
$279,738
$312,060
$340,493
$374,309
$319,670
$378,891
$369,286
$465,479
$444,669
$699,616
$317,828
$399,653
$387,305
Chippewa
Cottonwood
Jackson
Lac qui Parle
Lincoln
Lyon
Martin
Murray
Nobles
Pipestone
Redwood
Rock
Watonwan
Yellow Medicine
Average
Assessors Est.
Market Value
$341,414
$346,400
$270,600
$294,283
$293,540
$356,807
$285,598
$329,179
$346,392
$420,874
$418,090
$630,639
$297,046
$377,836
$355,621
Assessors EMV*
as a % of Actual
92.34%
1.04%
1.01%
95.69%
93.40%
1.01%
86.40%
93.04%
95.67%
90.31%
92.99%
92.19%
95.94%
92.93%
94.78%
Average
CER**
65
63
78
57
58
60
NA
69
69
72
69
94
72
63
68
* Estimated Market Value
**Crop Equivalency Rating
Percentage of Farmland Price Change from Previous Year
County
Chippewa
Cottonwood
Jackson
Lac qui Parle
Lincoln
Lyon
Martin
Murray
Nobles
Pipestone
Redwood
Rock
Watonwan
Yellow Medicine
Average
2001
NA
31.6
3.16
NA
-18
NA
0.05
44.9
16.67
-10.9
NA
17
0.04
NA
8.91
2002
NA
-14.8
2.0
NA
62.3
-24.9
-6.8
13.5
2.0
22.9
NA
18.2
13.6
NA
9.0
2003
NA
10.8
-7.3
NA
18.9
46.5
8.3
11.4
9.4
14.2
NA
-6.8
7.5
NA
10.6
2004
NA
14.1
17.9
NA
-4.2
12.1
18.4
21.9
16.1
38.8
NA
11.1
19.1
NA
16.5
Year
2005
NA
31.6
26.5
NA
28.8
7.14
16.0
7.1
7.7
1.6
NA
10.8
6.6
NA
14.4
2006
4.1
17.0
11.2
11.0
7.6
14.5
7.7
4.7
19.5
13.1
1.4
26.3
33.2
23.5
13.9
2007
1.3
5.3
12.2
14.7
47.8
-4.2
12.5
9.4
17.7
13.3
5.0
30.7
-0.3
-4.3
11.5
2008
44.4
47.2
32.8
11.6
-2.4
77.3
8.8
40.9
21.6
40.6
30.5
29.1
17.4
31.9
30.0
2009
4.1%
-36.7%
-9.6%
26.8%
24.5%
-25.7%
17.5%
5.0%
-4.5%
8.7%
10.6%
3.3%
9.8%
6.9%
0.8%
Price changes and percentage changes can be misleading since the quality of land that is sold in one year may not compare equally
with the quality of land sold in a previous year.
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