Illinois farmers are paying record-high cash rents this year, and they aren’t the only ones.
USDA’s annual cash rent survey puts Illinois’ average at $269 per acre for non-irrigated cropland. It’s the third consecutive record-breaking year. A new record high was established in 2022 after a seven-year slump. Last year, the 2022 statewide average cash rent was topped by $16 an acre, and this year, despite some ideas that it might stay steady or decline, the price rose another ten bucks. Illinois does have some of the highest county-wide cash rent averages in the Midwest, but not the highest.
On average, the USDA Cash Rent Survey says Iowa farmers pay $276 an acre. However, ten Illinois counties have average cash rents above Iowa’s highest county-wide rate of $323 in Sioux County, located in Northwest Iowa. At least ten Illinois counties spreading eastward from the state capitol in Springfield have higher published rates.
