Statewide farmland prices were “fairly stable” in 2026 with slight rises and falls across quality grades, according to the latest Purdue Farmland Values and Cash Rent Survey. The average price of top-quality farmland is $14,909, up 0.6% from June 2025, reports Purdue’s Todd Kuethe who conducts the survey.
The average price of average- quality farmland, on the other hand, declined 1.1% from June 2025, at $12,121 per acre. The average price of poor-quality farmland dipped even further, 3.1% to $9,460.
“This adjustment follows modest statewide gains in 2024 and 2025 that, as in 2026, masked significant divergence across regions. The farmland market across Indiana most closely mirrors the experiences of 2014 to 2019, where prices moderated following the boom of 2007 to 2013,” Kuethe states.
At the regional level, farmland prices exhibited more pronounced changes. “But similar to the 2014 to 2019, both positive and negative adjustments were observed across regions and quality grades,” he notes.
There are caveats that must be made, especially in times of adjustment, when interpreting the regional information. he cautions.
First, the regions may mask some of the variability across or within counties or localized impacts. “This year, several respondents specifically noted high variation within their local areas — for example, differences in the pace of nearby development or in how many potential buyers remain active in a given pocket of a region,” he notes.
Second, the reported estimates are averages, which do not capture the dispersion of prices.
Third, the number of responses in each region is modest, so these values should be interpreted with caution.
Average estimated Indiana land value per acre (tillable, bare land)
Statewide cash rental rates for top quality land declined 4.1% to $305 per acre, according to the survey. Rates also declined for average quality land by 1.4% to $260 per acre. However, cash rents for poor quality land increased 3.3% to $214 per acre.
“With the same caveats as farmland prices, cash rents varied across quality grades and regions,” he cautions. For example, he points out rental rates fell for all three quality grades in the Central region and rose across all three quality grades in the Southeast region. However, in all other regions, some quality grades increased while others decreased.
Average estimated Indiana cash rent per acre (tillable, bare land)
