U.S. Pastureland Values Stabilize

• Published in: Beef
• Main Author: Fritz, Mike
• Format: Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: Minneapolis Informa 04.11.2010
• Subjects: Cattle; Inventory; Landowners; Pastures
• ISSN: 0005-7738

USDA's August land value and cash rent summary reports land prices as of Jan. 1 each year and cash rents for the current crop or grazing year. The latest report shows that the pasture sector continues to maintain its capital appreciation edge over cropland so far this decade - rising an average 7.3% annually since 2000, vs. 6.3% for cropland. However, pasture's edge is due to two spectacular years - 2005 and 2006 - when values spiked 17% and 30%, respectively. Regionally, pasture demand appears strongest across the Northern Plains where pasture values increased 3.8% from 2009, and weakest in the Southeast where values fell 5.6%. Pasture prices continue to deflate toward their agricultural-use values across the Southeast as the region's speculative run-up in all classes of real estate unwinds. Pasture prices slid 10% in Georgia for the 12 months through January, according to USDA. Cattlemen have found themselves in the unusual position of having to hunt for their calves and cows lying in dense growth pastures, reports Ron Vance, field supervisor with the Nebraska Board of Educational Lands and Funds, which manages 902,000 acres of pasture leases. "It's a growth of grass going nuts," Vance adds. The combination of lush pastures and a 2% drop in Nebraska's cattle inventory created an unusual situation in the Northern Sand Hills in which some privately owned pasture went un-rented this year.