Iowa Cash Rents Decrease

Over the course of a year with lower crop prices and high production costs, Iowa cropland cash rental rate trends stayed rather flat across the state.

The 2026 state average was $1 lower, or -0.4%, at $270 per crop acre in comparison to 2025. The statewide survey has been performed by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach annually since 1994, collecting typical rents for acres devoted to corn and soybeans, as well as for oats, hay, pasture, cornstalk grazing and hunting rights. An important item of note is that the survey does not ask for specific rents on individual farms. Responses were consistent across farmland quality levels, with the high-quality third down $3, medium-quality down $2 and low-quality third up $1.

The survey is not possible without the cooperation and assistance of the landowners, farmers and agribusiness professionals who respond. Every response is pertinent, and landowners, producers and agribusiness professionals who have knowledge of rents across their county and neighboring counties are encouraged to participate in the 2027 survey.