LINCOLN- For the fourth consecutive year in a row, Nebraska farmland prices grew according to a University of Nebraska Report, with this year's average growth hovering around 14%. The report, formally titled the Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights Report, indicated that the average price for one acre of land, as of February 1st of this year, was $3,835, up from last year's $3,360.

High crop prices, farm expansion and improvement, and non-farmer investment interests were cited as major factors for the significant price increase, according to the Center for Agriculture Profitability at NU. High interest rates are also believed to have pushed farmers and investors to purchase land as a hedge against high inflation, believes Jim Jansen, one of the report's co-authors. "Land acts as a hedge against inflation by increasing in price as the impact of rising prices takes hold across the economy," said Jansen in the report.

Although the average price-per-acre came out to around $3,800, the highest-priced farmland in Nebraska averaged around $8,000 per acre, usually for land that contained gravity- and center-pivoted irrigation systems. Austin Harthoorn, an economist with the Nebraska Farm Bureau, said that higher farmland prices typically mean higher property tax bills for farmers. "However, the economy has been so strong the last few years, farmers are in a very good place to handle that," continued Harthoorn, "It's a very profitable time to be in agriculture."

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