June 18. 2012 6:00AM - Last modified: June 18. 2012 6:58AM

MADISON - Farmland prices on the rise

  
Bolstered by strong crop prices and record-low interest rates, agricultural land values are soaring across the Upper Midwest.

On average, Wisconsin farmland prices rose 13 percent in the first quarter, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, compared to January through March of 2011.

In the five-state Federal Reserve district including much of Wisconsin, prices were up 19 percent, Reserve economist David Oppedahl reported in his most recent survey. The district also includes all or parts of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Michigan.

In Dane County, prices rose 7.6 percent to an average $5,851 per farm acre from 2010 to 2011 — according to a study by the UW Center for Dairy Profitability — and by 11 percent between 2006 and 2011.

The center also found farmland values statewide rose 6.7 percent in 2011, to $3,475, and by 31 percent over the past six years in south-central Wisconsin, or from $3,739 to $4,902 per farmland acre.

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