In a resurgent American Farm Belt, the hottest commodity around is dirt.
Across the Midwest, prices to buy and rent farmland are climbing as demand is driven by rallying grain markets, historic government payments and low interest rates, according to economists, agricultural lenders and land managers.
The battle for farmland is playing out in small town community centers, online portals and parking lots, where bids in Covid-19-era auctions are placed with a wave from the window of a pickup truck or a quick flashing of headlights.
There, auctioneers are peddling parcels of land to farmers eager to cash in on the best commodity prices in nearly a decade. They are also presiding over intense jockeying for fields that can test the fabric of rural communities as a shrinking set of growers compete for control of the nation’s prime soil.
“Each month it seems like we’re setting new highs in the auctions we’re handling,” said Mike Norgaard, co-owner of Northwestern Farm Management Co., which sells and rents land such states as Iowa and Minnesota.
