North Dakota state average cropland prices were up double digits for the 4th year in a row in 2025, says Bryon Parman, North Dakota State University Extension agricultural finance specialist. This includes state average increases of 10.9% in 2022, 13.5% in 2023, 11.6% in 2024 and 10.55% in 2025, according to the North Dakota Department of Trust Lands Annual Land Survey. The data, which has been weighted for this article by county acreage count and put into NDSU Extension regions, can be found at https://www.land.nd.gov/resources/north-dakota-county-rents-prices-annual-survey.

From 2022 to 2025, the overall increase in cropland values across North Dakota has increased from a weighted average of $2,519 per acre to $3,534 per acre for an overall increase in the last four years of nearly 40%. The largest increase from 2024 to 2025 occurred in the North Red River Valley region with a 22.1% increase with the Northwest region coming in second at 19.66%. The Southwest, Southcentral, and Southeast regions were all up over 10% as well. All nine NDSU Extension regions saw an increase, with the lowest occurring in the North Central region, which increased 3.3%. The remaining regions including the Northeast, South Red River Valley, and East Central regions increased between 7.5% and 8.6% each.

“The momentum that North Dakota land values experienced in 2024 and now into 2025 is a bit surprising given that net farm incomes in 2023 and 2024 were much lower than in 2021 and 2022, due to much lower commodity prices and rising production costs,” says Parman. “It is also surprising given that interest rate increases in 2023 and 2024 have been in place long enough to be a factor in any newly financed purchases over the last few years. Additionally, the higher interest rates have led to investment opportunity competition between farmland and interest-bearing assets such as bonds and certificates of deposit.”

While cash rents across North Dakota also increased, they continue to grow at a much slower pace than land values. Statewide cropland cash rental rates were up 4.25% in 2025, with increases occurring in every region except the Southwest, which saw a very slight decline of -1.1%.

Much like land values, the highest increase in cash rents occurred in the North Red River Valley region, where cash rents were up nearly 10.4%. However, most regions were much lower. The Southeast and South Red River Valley regions were up 6% and 6.8%, respectively. Cash rents in the East Central region were up just over 4.2% while in the Northeast region, rents were up 5.4%. The Northwest region saw a 3.1% increase in 2025, and the North Central region rents were up just over 1%. The Southcentral region saw almost no increase, with a change of less than 1% from 2024 to 2025.

The increase in cash rents across North Dakota aligns more with expectations based on agricultural production costs and commodity prices. While production costs have been higher over the last four years, and commodity prices a bit lower for at least the last two years, the multi-year inflationary environment was likely to have an impact on cash rental rates. For the most part, cash rental rate increases have matched that of yearly inflation, shares Parman.

However, the spread between cash rental rates and land values across North Dakota continues to widen. Thirty-five years ago, cash rental rates were 9% to 10% of market values for farmland. By 2012, this ratio had fallen to just over 3.8%. The rent-to-value ratio in 2025 in North Dakota has now fallen to 2.34%, which is to say that cropland, on a per-acre basis, rents at 2.34% of the overall value.

NDSU Agriculture Communication – April 17, 2025

Source: Bryon Parman, 701-231-8248, bryon.parman@ndsu.edu

Editor: Kelli Anderson, 701-231-7006, kelli.c.anderson@ndsu.edu