Indiana farmland values again set a record in 2025, according to Purdue University’s Farmland Value and Cash Rent survey conducted annually in June.
This year’s survey pegs the statewide value of top quality farmland at $14,826 an acre — a 3% increase versus the June 2024 finding.
The value of average and poor quality farmland also rose. Average land increased 5.4% to $12,254 an acre. Poor farmland rose 7.6% to $9,761 an acre.
While posting an overall annual increase, the survey found values peaked in 2024 and the slid through the first half of 2025. That rise and fall is monitored through the survey’s reading of values on a six-month basis — June to December and then December to June.
For the state, top ground reached $14,970 an acre by Dec. 31 — a 4% rise. It declined 3.9% Jan. 1 to June. Average farmland rose to $12.359 in December — a 6.3% gain — and fell 5.9% into June. Poor quality ground followed — up 8.2% in the last half of 2024 and down 7.6% the first half of 2025.
Result — a stable-to-firm market when viewed on an annual basis.
This is a trend LandOwner has recorded in other Midwestern states. There was unexpected strength in the last half 2024 as both crop prices and yields rose more than expected followed by a decline the first half of 2024 as concerns over tariffs and weaker prices trimmed those late-year gains.
Not all of Indiana saw the late-2024 gains which kept values from sliding on a year-over-year basis.
Values in the Southwest and Southeast regions fell steadily across all three quality grades. However, these two regions saw the largest price increases since 2020. The survey suggests values in these regions declined through the latter half of 2024 and rebounded in the first half of 2025. However,the 2025 gain did not override the losses posted in 2024.
The opposite pattern holds in the four other regions of the state.
The Northeast region reports the highest per acre values across all three quality grades. Top quality land fell just shy of $16,000.
The survey also found the value of farmland transitioning out of agriculture declined 5.3% to $19,043 an acre. Recreational land, however, rose 18% to an average of $9,542 an acre.
Looking ahead, respondents are modestly optimistic about the remainder of 2025. However, further declines are expected across all quality grades in both the Southwest and Southeast regions.