I just read an article today about farmland prices in Stearns County, which are also ready for planting. According to this article by Kirsti Marohn of the St. Cloud Times, the value of prime farmland in Stearns County jumped 15 to 18 percent in the last year, according to the Stearns County assessor's office. The article is included below:
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Area farmland fetcheshigher property value
Smaller farms could find it hard to thrive as taxes, seed prices increase
Written by Kirsti Marohn
Apr
22, 2013
When some Stearns County
farmers opened their property valuation notices in the past few weeks, they saw
some startling numbers. The value of prime
farmland jumped an average of 15 to 18 percent from last year, according to the
county assessor’s office.
That means many farmers
could be paying more property taxes in 2014. But despite that, there haven’t
been large crowds of people showing up to local boards of appeals, County
Assessor Gary Grossinger said.
Grossinger said turnout
at those meetings, where landowners can challenge their property’s assessed
value and classification, has been “probably the lightest in my 40 years.”
That’s likely because
many farmers had a profitable year last year thanks to high commodity prices,
and are aware of the rising prices agricultural property has been fetching.
The average sale price of
farm land has increased from $4,000 an acre last year to $4,600 an acre so far
this year, Grossinger said. There also have been a few sales for as much as
$7,000 an acre.
“People know what the
farmland’s going for,” Grossinger said. “When your neighbors sell for $7,000
(an acre) and we’ve got it on for $4,000, you’re not going to complain too
much.”
Notices are sent to
property owners every spring, informing them of their property’s estimated
market value and taxable value. That value is used to determine how much the
property taxes payable in 2014 will be.
Residential and
commercial land values have been flat, which probably means owners of
agricultural land will shoulder a bigger share of the property tax burden.
The level of spending by
local counties, cities, townships and school districts also affects the final
tax bill.
One significant shift has
been the increasing value of large tracts of prime agricultural property, while
buildable land closer to cities hasn’t been rising in value. That’s due to the
lack of interest in developing property right now, Grossinger said.
“What’s selling now is
good farmland,” he said.
George Hadrich, a corn
farmer in Holding Township, said the rising property values are making it
difficult for smaller farmers to survive. Hadrich said the value of his 270
acres jumped about 20 percent from last year, and he worries that his tax bill
will increase the same amount.
Although corn prices have
been higher recently, so has the price of seed corn, machinery and fertilizer,
he said.
“The two of us are still working part time
to make things work out,” the 71-year-old Hadrich said.
********************************If you think now is the time to get your farmland appraised, or perhaps now is the time to sell your farmland, please give me a call at 320-894-7528.
Thanks,
Noah
noah@farmlandman.com
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