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Iowa farmland auctions generated $78,873,454 in reported transactions across more than 10,600 acres in March 2026, according to Successful Farming. That figure is a report of that month’s sales—not a current price estimate—and it may understate the value of activity because one property did not sell and several final prices were not reported. A separate Peoples Company tally counted 10,151 acres across 104 public-auction tracts, using its own inclusion rules.
What the March 2026 figures measure
Successful Farming reported more than 10,600 acres sold and $78,873,454 in Iowa farmland auction transactions during March 2026. Its total is not a complete valuation of every property offered: one property failed to sell, and several transactions lacked reported final prices. Successful Farming’s March auction report presents the transaction total, not a statewide appraisal or a forecast of what land would sell for later in the year.
Peoples Company tracked a separate set of 104 public-auction tracts totaling 10,151 acres for March 2026. Its report covered agricultural real-estate auctions larger than 35 acres. The reported acreage differs from Successful Farming’s figure, but the available reporting does not fully reconcile the underlying records; the counts have different stated scopes and should not be combined or treated as a direct contradiction.
What was the average auction price per acre?
Within its March 2026 dataset, Peoples Company calculated an average of $10,368 per acre and $12,554 per tillable acre. It also calculated an average of $181 per CSR2 point, but limited that measure to tracts with more than 85% tillable ground and minimal contribution from improvements. These are averages for the report’s eligible auction set, not prices that every Iowa farm can expect.
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The distinctions matter. A per-tillable-acre figure excludes non-tillable portions of a tract from the denominator; a whole-farm price per acre does not. The CSR2 average uses a narrower subset still. Treating these measures as interchangeable can make two otherwise similar-looking sale prices appear more comparable than they are.
Examples show why sale prices vary
These reported sales illustrate the range of land types and sale circumstances in March 2026. They are selected examples, not a representative statewide price range or an estimate for a particular property.
Louisa County: row-crop ground in a multitract sale
A March 31 multitract sale handled by Merit Auctions reported a total of $2,095,250 across five tracts. The first tract included about 79 cropland acres in row-crop production and had a CSR2 rating of 88.4; Merit confirmed that tract sold for $21,050 per acre. The article quoted Merit senior sales representative John Probasco saying bidders were represented across the country and that the buyer, a farmer from Illinois, planned to move the operation to Iowa. Successful Farming’s account of the sale
Sioux County: high-productivity cropland with a lease in place
About 72.5 acres sold at an in-person auction on March 16 for a reported $1,943,000, or $26,800 per acre. The farm had approximately 71.81 tillable acres and an average CSR2 of 91.6. It was leased for the 2026 crop year: the buyer was to receive rent at closing, with possession on March 1, 2027. Those terms affect what the buyer acquired and when they could farm the land, so the per-acre price alone does not capture the whole transaction. Zomer Company’s results page also lists other March 2026 Iowa sales, including a Boone County sale at $26,800 per acre and two Sioux County tracts at $17,600 and $17,400 per acre. Successful Farming’s sale coverage and Zomer Company auction results
Ringgold County: pasture and row crop with improvements
A 394.57-acre tract comprising pasture and row crop, with a cattle corral and metal building, was reported at $5,750 per acre, or $2,268,778 total. The article said the sale attracted 13 bidders as part of a 19-tract auction and quoted the auctioneer describing 95% of the parcel as grass. Its land use and improvements make it a poor one-to-one comparison with predominantly tillable row-crop farms.
How to compare an auction result with a farm you are evaluating
Price per acre is a starting point, not a complete comparison. Before using a nearby sale to estimate a farm’s value, check the transaction details that can materially change the economics:
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- Tillable acreage: Compare both total acres and acres suitable for cultivation; a parcel with substantial pasture or other non-tillable ground will not match a mostly tillable farm.
- CSR2 and soil: CSR2 is Iowa’s soil productivity index. It combines historical corn-yield records with soil characteristics to rate relative corn productivity in Iowa. It is specific to Iowa soils, not a universal land-quality scale.
- Land use and improvements: Cropland, pasture, buildings, corrals, and other improvements contribute differently to a sale price.
- Parcel size and location: Tract size and local buyer demand can influence bidding; a sale in one county does not establish the price in another.
- Lease and possession terms: A lease may convey rent to the buyer while delaying possession, as in the Sioux County sale.
- Dataset rules: Check whether a market report includes only public auctions, imposes a minimum acreage, or excludes sales that do not meet particular criteria.
What the results suggest about the market—and what they do not
Rabail Chandio, an assistant professor of economics at Iowa State University, told Successful Farming that “March and recent sales were generally reflective of current market trends, not an exception.” The article attributed support for prices to limited land supply and steady buyer demand, while describing lower commodity prices and elevated input costs as pressures on crop profitability. It also reported that stronger livestock margins supported stability in livestock-heavy regions and that interest rates and credit conditions contributed to more cautious bidding. These are Chandio’s interpretation as presented in the article, not separately established causal estimates.
Chandio also characterized the market as “stable overall, but increasingly selective,” pointing to differences between stronger demand and limited supply on one hand and tighter crop margins and stronger livestock conditions on the other. A separate figure cited by Successful Farming—the Iowa State University Land Value Survey’s reported 0.7% statewide land-value increase—covers November 2024 to November 2025. It describes a different time period and measure from March 2026 auction transactions, so it should not be read as a March auction change or as a current October 2026 price trend. Successful Farming’s report, which cites the survey
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