Iowa average farmland values rocketed 29% higher during the past year to a record of $9,751 per acre, according to Iowa State University’s annual land value survey released last week.

With an average increase of $2,193 per acre over last year, “the nominal land values in Iowa reached the highest that we have ever seen,” said Wendong Zhang, an ISU Extension economist who leads the annual survey that began in 1941. “After some modest declines and stagnant land markets for a couple of years, we are seeing a dramatic increase.”

Survey respondents attributed the sharp jump to export-driven gains in commodity prices, better than expected crop yields and COVID-19 related ...