Iowa farmland values climbed just under 1 percent during the past six months, ending a three-year slide that saw values plummet nearly 30 percent from their peak in 2013, according to a new survey released last week by the Iowa Realtors Land Institute.

"It looks like the bleeding has stopped temporarily," said survey coordinator Kyle Hansen of Hertz Real Estate Services. "Land values appear to be taking a breath and seeing where their future value is going to be."

Statewide, the farmland realtors survey showed an average 0.9 percent increase in tillable cropland values since last September, a key reversal compared to the 3.7 percent decrease during the preceding six months.

However, the trend ...