(Herald & Review) - In a year that farmland prices were soft, cash rent for farmland was hard.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service has begun reporting on 2009 levels of cash rent for farmland in Illinois, and the numbers confirm that farmers here are in a “garden spot.” A very high-priced garden spot.

Cash rent data for nonirrigated farmland puts Macon County at tops in the state with an average of $237 per acre, followed closely by Logan at $232, Sangamon at $223, Piatt at $218, and Christian and McLean at $206. For Macon, that is a $26 jump upward from $211 in 2008. Cash rent in Logan County climbed $22, but the $223 in Sangamon was a $1 decline from the prior year according to the statisticians. And Moultrie County, where the average cash rent was $213 in 2008, sneaked into the 2009 survey at $187. Is cash rent between Bethany and Sullivan a bargain?

Probably the greatest bargain for farmers appears in DeWitt County, where the average cash rent last year was $183. It is bordered by the $237 in Macon County on the south and the $206 of McLean County on the north, and there is not much difference in the soils among the three counties.

Another noticeable change was the drop in cash rent from $204 to $170 for Macoupin County. That is the center of gravity for Dowson Farms and Illinois Family Farms, two major operations that operate tens of thousands of acres each by offering hefty levels of cash rent to land owners in the past. It is just a guess on my part, but their bargaining power may have lowered average rents by telling landowners that profitability was declining because of high fertilizer costs experienced in the 2009 crop year. When you are controlling as much farmland as they do, the trends will be strong.

Did cash rents paid in 2009 follow the trend in land values? Not in true fashion if you review the data from agricultural lenders who are surveyed regularly by the Federal Reserve Bank at Chicago. The February Agricultural Letter reported land values in the upper two-thirds of Illinois rose about 2 percent during calendar 2009. While most of the cash rents for the 2009 crop year were set in late 2008 and early 2009, farmland owners were receiving a greater return on their investment compared to the increased value of their asset.

Another group that regularly weighs in on land values and cash rents is the professional farm managers, whose state association publishes a comprehensive survey of land price trends. Their data for the change in land value indicates that land sales certainly slowed down in 2009 going into 2010, but prices were higher for good farmland in an era when commodity prices were restricting profitability for farm operators. For Central Illinois, land values rose as much as 10 percent for good land, but cash rents were steady with an average of $275 for “excellent” land and 10 percent lower for “good” land at an average of $225. They reported cash rents in Central Illinois to range from $240 to $400 for excellent land. That quality of farmland remained rather steady in value at $7,000 throughout 2009, which is corroborated by the Chicago Federal Reserve survey.

The farm managers, who have the ear of farmland owners, are telling them that more than likely farmland prices will continue to rise over the next five years. And without much doubt, so will cash rents, if owners want to increase the return on their investment.

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