Cash rents are climbing

Gary Schnitkey, Ph.D. University of Illinois, notes that cash rents are higher in Illinois.

Schnitkey reports that average cash rent levels increased substantially from 2022 to 2023 for all land productivity classes with the higher quality land experiencing the greatest absolute increase. This information was released as a part of last week’s Land Values Conference in Bloomington.

For Excellent productivity farmland, the $412 per acre cash rent for 2023 was $43 higher than the $369 per acre cash rent in 2022. Cash rents for Good quality land increased by $31 per acre from $322 in 2022 to $353 per acre in 2023. Average quality farmland increased from $275 per acre in 2022 to $285 per acre in 2023, an increase of $10 per acre. Fair quality farmland increased $8 from $215 per acre in 2022 to $223 per acre in 2023.

Overall Expectations on Rents

Overall, farm managers were asked their expectations of 2024 cash rent level:

• 0% percent expect 2024 cash rents to increase over 2023 levels,

• 36 percent expect 2024 cash rents to be the same as in 2023, and

• 36 percent expect 2024 cash rents to decrease from 2023 levels.

Most farm managers expect the agricultural economy in 2023 to remain the same (45 percent) or decline (48 percent) from 2022 levels. Seven percent expect the agricultural economy to be better.