• There is a limited amount of land for sale, and purchasers are looking for higher investment returns compared to the low interest rates paid on CD's and bonds.
• The majority of buyers are local farmers expanding their current operation, followed by a mix of local and non-local investors.  The survey found that there are no section 1031 investors in farmland, due to the current recession.
• Most of the sales are for cash, with most sales not being mortgaged.
• For recreational and transitional tracts of farmland there is a lack of demand.

Across central Illinois, the survey found farmland values in 2009 were steady to up 7 percent, especially among excellent and good quality tracts.  In region 7, which includes the Springfield-Jacksonville market, eight out of 10 counties in the region had farmland sales in excess of $7,000/acre.  Morgan and Sangamon counties had sales exceeding $8,000/acre.

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