What is the USDA land values survey and how should I use it?

Question

Turnrow Capital · Accepted Answer

USDA's annual Land Values summary, published by NASS each August, reports average per-acre values for farm real estate, cropland, and pasture by state and region, with county-level data in the Census of Agriculture years. It is the best free benchmark for trend and direction — but it is an average, never an appraisal.

Use it for what averages are good for: direction and context. The survey tells you whether your state's cropland rose or fell year over year and how your region compares to neighbors. Paired with your state land-grant university's survey — Iowa State, Purdue, and Nebraska publish widely-used ones — you get a defensible view of the market trend behind any individual sale.

Do not use it to price a specific farm. State averages blend irrigated and dryland, prime and marginal, large and small parcels; your parcel can legitimately sit at double or half the state figure. An appraiser will cite the survey as market context in the report, then set your value from actual local comps — which is the right hierarchy.

The practical borrower's use: sanity-check a deal before spending appraisal money. If the state average is $6,000, the county's recent auctions cluster near $9,000, and you are being asked to pay $15,000 an acre for ordinary ground, the survey will not tell you the answer — but it tells you exactly what question to ask the seller.