2025 Farmland Values Update for North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin

Farmland values held mostly steady in the first six months of 2025, an indicator of two economic dynamics shaping the U.S. agriculture industry — solid farm financials tempered by market uncertainty.

AgCountry Farm Credit Services tracks values on the same 23 benchmark farms every January and July. While Minnesota saw a decline, its land values remain near all-time highs. Values in North Dakota and Wisconsin also are historically strong.

Yearly Farmland Value Trends by State

*The parentheses indicate the number of benchmark operations in each state.

What’s Driving Land Values in the Upper Midwest?

The pockets of volatility in local real estate markets that developed in 2024 continue into 2025, with some sale prices higher than expected and some lower.

In the northern region of Minnesota served by AgCountry, high-yield, well situated cropland was in demand, while the southern area experienced a slight pullback as tighter margins and higher input costs dampened buyer enthusiasm. Irrigated parcels, predominantly those clustered between Park Rapids and Alexandria for potato production, held their values.

North Dakota’s premium cropland was stable. Western counties benefitted from energy-sector wealth; southern counties experienced some softening in the real estate market.

Wisconsin is divided into two distinct markets. In the territory north of State Trunk Highway 64, timber, waterfront and recreational land dominate, and values in the first half of 2025 increased for the fifth consecutive year.

To the more agriculture-heavy south, strong demand for productive farmland supported steady to increasing values. This included mico-markets in western Marathon and northern Clark Counties where local dairies and emerging poultry operations are competing for large tracts. Irrigated acreage, concentrated in southern and eastern counties for potato and vegetable production, also remain in high demand.

Mark Vetter, executive vice president of business development for AgCountry, the market has remained stronger than expected: “Steady, competitive demand is what’s kept the market durable, even in the face of higher interest rates and lower commodity prices . . . In our region, cash rents are still lower than in places like Iowa or Nebraska, but yields aren’t far behind—so there’s a clear incentive to lock in ownership now. Many farms are trying to get ahead of future rent increases by securing land while they can.” 

Factors Impacting Land Values

While sales activity influences land values, other factors also come into play, helping to cut through noise in the market. The fact that land values are flat and not down points agriculture’s general financial strength, Vetter said.

Heading into 2025, some prognosticators expected corn prices to fall to the low $4-, even high $3-range, creating financial stress and an increase in fire sales of land. Instead, corn prices have remained in the mid-$4 range, and more impactful to farm finances, the U.S. government delivered a fresh round of subsidies to producers in early 2025 to offset weather and economic challenges.

There are pockets of stress, but they remain a small part of the overall economic picture. As a result, land sales due to duress have not impacted the real estate market. In fact, the same tight land market that supported land values for the past several years remains in place.

In Minnesota, real estate activity in the first half of 2025 fell below levels seen in recent years. Public auctions in North Dakota declined, while private transfers, especially between family and landlords and tenants, went up.

“Steady, competitive demand has kept the market durable, even in the face of higher interest rates and lower commodity prices.” Vetter said. explained that this trend is driven by a strategic shift among producers, “Families are looking to reduce their exposure to the cash rent market, which can carry increasing risk. In our region, cash rents are still lower than in places like Iowa or Nebraska, but yields aren’t far behind—so there’s a clear incentive to lock in ownership now. Many farms are trying to get ahead of future rent increases by securing land while they can.” 

Challenges and Uncertainty Ahead

Challenges do lie ahead for agriculture, the most immediate being the 2025 corn harvest. If the weather cooperates and the 95 million acres of U.S. corn hit trendline, farmers could deliver a bumper crop -- potentially into a market with fewer buyers.

So far, the U.S. has found willing buyers for its agricultural products. A weakened dollar and strong demand have helped ease the impact of tariffs and trade disputes. But with the Trump administration threatening more tariffs and trade talks in flux, farmers enter the 2025 harvest in a state of uncertainty.

Working capital remains relatively strong, although well off the record highs of recent years. If commodity prices come under pressure, and that is a possibility, Vetter said, the real estate market will see fewer buyers.

Beginning in 2024, buyers already were growing more selective, waiting for the right land in the right location to come on the market and forgoing a growing number of public auctions. North Dakota’s fall 2025 auction schedule is filling up and appears to be on par with 2024. However, signs point to a more cautious bidding environment and the possibility of an uptick in auctions ending without a sale.

Bidding wars between financially strong buyers will still occur in the market, Vetter said. But overall, the market could see a drop in buyers, and certainly in buyers willing to spend working capital on lower quality ground. 

Join us for our upcoming webinar on farmland rental agreements and the trade-offs from the landowners’ perspective.