Photo: Paul Giamou / Stockbyte / Getty Images
(Des Moines, IA) -- The Land Investment Expo is taking place in Des Moines this week, and over 1,000 people are expected to attend.
Steve Bruere is with the organizer of the event.
"There's a lot of uncertainty around what the new administration is going to do on the farm bill," Bruere says. "On biofuels, and on immigration. That's a big part of agriculture. I'm optimistic, but there's definitely a big sense of anxiety out there."
That anxiety is stemming from a recent decline in land value. A December report from Iowa State University says there was a 3% downturn in value last year.
"Frankly, it surprises me it's not a little higher than that," Bruere says. "Farmland's a stable asset and possibly correlated with inflation. So, some of these challenges with the economy, farmland's a stable investment and a lot of people like t put their money there."
The drop was expected in Iowa, but it was worse in other states per Bruere.
"Where you see land values may be dropping more than they did in Iowa are some of these fringy areas," Bruere says. "Where you don't have those generational farms and the strong competition and the strong grain markets and the strong ethanol and biodiesel facilities. So, Iowa's a pretty special place."