Are farmland values up or down in 2025? It depends on what is being measured. USDA’s national survey-based estimate rose, and Purdue’s Indiana survey also showed increases across land-quality grades. But Steve Bruere, president of Peoples Co., said the transactions his company tracked and handled did not match the positive reports. Those claims can coexist: the figures cover different places, land types, methods and time windows, and Bruere’s experience is not a national sales index.
What do the numbers say?
The clearest way to read the reports is to keep their measures separate. USDA’s national figure covers farm real estate, Purdue’s figures cover bare Indiana farmland by quality, and rent is a payment for use—not a sale price.
| Measure | Reported value | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. farm real estate | $4,350 per acre in 2025; up 4.3% year over year in nominal terms and 1.9% after inflation | National estimate of land and buildings, based mainly on a survey of farm operators. USDA ERS reports the estimate using USDA NASS’s August 2025 Land Values summary. |
| U.S. cropland value | $5,830 per acre in 2025 | Average cropland value across the 48 contiguous states; a different category from farm real estate. |
| U.S. cropland rent | $161 per acre in 2025 | Average annual rent across the 48 contiguous states; not a sale value. |
| Indiana top-quality bare farmland | $14,826 per acre in June 2025; up 3.0% from June 2024 | Purdue University Center for Commercial Agriculture survey estimate. |
| Indiana average-quality bare farmland | $12,254 per acre in June 2025; up 5.4% from June 2024 | Purdue survey estimate. |
| Indiana poor-quality bare farmland | $9,761 per acre in June 2025; up 7.6% from June 2024 | Purdue survey estimate. |
The USDA national figures are reported by USDA Economic Research Service; the underlying 2025 land-values report is described in the USDA National Agricultural Library publication catalog. Purdue’s Indiana estimates come from its 2025 survey results.
Why can rising estimates coexist with soft sales?
The reports do not measure the same thing
USDA’s farm-real-estate estimate includes buildings as well as land. Purdue’s quoted figures are estimates for bare farmland, separated by quality grade. Cropland value is another category, and rent measures annual use. Comparing these numbers as if they were interchangeable sale prices would blur important differences.
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The geography and methods differ
USDA’s estimate describes the country as a whole and is based mainly on a survey of operators. Purdue’s survey asks knowledgeable market professionals about Indiana farmland; it also found regional variation within the state. Bruere, by contrast, described transactions tracked and handled by his company. That is meaningful market testimony, but it is not a standardized or nationally representative sample.
The time windows differ
USDA’s figure is an annual 2025 estimate, Purdue’s is a June 2025 Indiana survey, and an individual transaction reflects conditions when and where a particular parcel changed hands. A national annual average can rise even if some local sales are weaker or some land categories lose value.
What did the expert say about transactions?
In a December 15, 2025, Successful Farming report, Bruere said: “I would just say that I absolutely think land values are down,” and added that higher reports were “not consistent with what we see in the transactions that we tracked and handled.” His view directly challenges the impression that every part of the market is rising, but it should be read as the experience of a named market participant—not proof that U.S. farmland sales broadly declined.
The available figures do not provide a common transaction-level dataset with which to test Bruere’s observations against the USDA and Purdue estimates. They establish a disagreement in market signals, not the national scale of any sales weakness.
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The reports point to competing influences rather than one uniform direction. The Purdue survey analysis describes current farm income and crop conditions as downward pressures in Indiana, while stronger livestock returns and conversion of land to nonfarm uses supported prices. These are reported explanations from survey participants, not a demonstrated formula that predicts what any parcel should sell for.
Bruere cited interest costs, commodity prices, tariffs and uncertainty as pressures. He also warned that Treasury yields matter to land pricing, comparing the 10-year Treasury to “gravity” that eventually pulls prices into alignment. That is his market assessment, not a measured timetable for farmland values.
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There is also a supply-side support: the Federal Reserve’s November 2025 Financial Stability Report characterized farmland values as elevated using annual data through August 2025, and said limited inventory supported prices despite elevated interest rates and higher operating costs. That national financial-stability observation can fit alongside reports of weak transactions in particular markets.
How should a buyer or landowner read a value report?
- Identify the measure. Check whether the figure is farm real estate, bare cropland by quality, rent, a survey estimate, or an observed sale.
- Match the geography. A national average is context, not a direct valuation for a county, state or specific parcel. Purdue’s Indiana survey itself reports variation by region and land quality.
- Check the date and comparison. Distinguish a 2025 annual estimate from a June survey or a particular sale, and note whether year-over-year growth is nominal or adjusted for inflation.
- Read the method and sample. Survey responses and a company’s handled transactions answer different questions. Neither should be presented as a complete census of all farmland sales.
- Use local evidence for a parcel-level decision. National and state trends can frame a discussion, but the cited figures alone do not establish what an individual farm would sell for.
What the reports do—and do not—establish
The available evidence supports two conclusions: USDA’s 2025 national farm-real-estate estimate rose, and Bruere reported that transactions his company saw did not reflect the positive reports. It does not establish how widespread transaction softness was nationwide, nor does it settle what final 2026 state and transaction data will show. The strongest reading is therefore not that one side must be wrong, but that survey estimates and selected real-world sales can diverge across places, land types and dates.
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