Trade uncertainty drives Iowa farmland values down 3 percent over past year, report says

Iowa farmland values fell close to 3 percent over the past year, with the largest decline coming from central Iowa, a new report shows. The federal government's trade bailout program, limited land and higher yields in some parts of Iowa last fall helped support farmland values, according to the Realtors Land Institute-Iowa Chapter, a group of farmland managers, brokers, appraisers and other professionals.Farmland values dropped 2.7 percent in March compared to a year earlier, the group's report says. The statewide average was $6,794 an acre.