On the right day, with the right crowd and right piece of ground, Iowa farmland can still fetch a premium, says Kyle Hansen, a broker with Hertz Real Estate Services. But overall farmland values in the state re­­main flat as upheaval in trade and biofuels markets keep a lid on corn and soybean prices.

A survey issued last week by the Iowa Realtors Land Institute (RLI) shows cropland values increased by 0.8% during the past six months to an...