Storm Lake Times Pilot

Plymouth County farm sells for $25,000 per acre



Farmland in Northwest Iowa tends to be the most valuable in the state and that was proven again last Friday morning in Le Mars.

A 100-acre farm in Plymouth County was sold by Brock Auction Company for $25,000 per acre. The farm features 96.33 tillable acres with a Corn Suitability Rating (CSR2) of 92.7.

When the gavel dropped, the land located five miles southeast of Le Mars brought over $2.5 million. Bruce R. Brock oversaw the sale and told the Sioux City Journal the buyers were neighbors.

The acreage with a two-story home sold as a stand-alone tract for $195,000.

Land values across Iowa have surged nearly 30% in the last year, according to Iowa State University’s annual land survey. ISU reports that the average value of Plymouth County ground in November 2021 was $12,416 — up from $9,452 one year earlier.

Plymouth County’s per-acre average ranks fourth in the state behind neighboring O’Brien ($13,713), Sioux ($13,701) and Lyon ($12,905).

The Le Mars auction is just the latest to end with land selling north of $20,000. Just over 224 acres in Clay County was auctioned last Thursday morning for $4.66 million.

The land was spread across three tracts roughly 1.5 miles south of Royal. Midwest Land Management of Spencer sold the land.

The first tract included 84 acres with a Corn Suitability Rating (CSR2) of 96.8 and sold for 21,000 per acre. The second tract, with 70.9 acres, has a CSR2 of 95.9 and sold for $20,300 per acre. The third tract, with 69.7 acres and a 96.5 CSR2, also fetched $21,000.

Broken down by region, Northwest Iowa’s 12-county district that includes Buena Vista and Cherokee County averaged $12,164 per acre in 2021, an increase of 27% from 2020.

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