Cattle Market Strength Spills into Farmland Values

Record high beef prices are driving up values for pasture and rangelands. Cole Nickerson, area sales manager with Farmers National Company, says strength in the cattle market is supporting farmland values.

“Our very strong and robust cattle market is helping pastureland, and we’re even seeing that trickle over into cropland values in those areas that have good diversification between cattle and row crop land. So, very strong demand in those areas.”

Speaking to the 2025 NAFB Convention in Kansas City, Missouri recently, Nickerson said that’s not the case everywhere.

“I live in western Nebraska, and we saw record drought in 2022. So, there was some pretty substantial de-cowing in that area, thus, our inventory is still low. We haven’t seen the price increases in pasture you would expect.” He says overall farmland values remained mostly steady in 2025.

EDITOR’S TAKE:

As we have often said this past year, cattle and livestock prices are the strongest they have been in recent years while crop prices are suffering from global over supply of grains. The article clearly suggests that it is the strong cattle prices driving purchases of farmland. Data suggests that prices for farmland have remained relatively steady to slightly higher compared to a year ago. This will prop up the balance sheets of farmers who own land and the equity will support their ability to borrow money. Remember to mention CADFI when setting up financing for farmers/ranchers. It is a great program that allows you to match payment schedules with income streams.