Farmland values and cash rents remain comparatively strong despite a nearly 50% drop in net farm income over the past few years and continued pressure from trade disruptions and low crop prices, speakers said last week at the 92nd Soil Management and Land Valuation Conference at Iowa State University (ISU).

“Long term, land is valued above all else,” said Scott Steffes, president of the Steffes Group, a machinery and land auction company operating in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. “You’d be surprised at how many 75- and 85-year-old people are buying farmland.”

An...