Farmers predict that renewable energy will have an impact on land values in the future

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An agricultural economist says renewable energy is a factor in the future value of farmland.

Jim Mintert of the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture says in the latest Purdue University/CME Group Farm Economics Barometer that farmers expect energy production to have a greater impact over the next five years.

“In the last two months, we added a solar or wind energy generation category,” he says. “In April, 8% of producers responding to the survey who believe farmland values will increase cited energy production this month, 12%.”

Brownfield says the survey shows more farmers are talking to solar companies.

“In April and again on May 19, 20% of people responding to the survey, one in five people, tell us that they have at least engaged in some discussion about family rental options and solar production,” he says.

He said there would likely be some spillover effects from the energy market on farmland values.

The Purdue University/CME Group Agricultural Economic Barometer is a national measure of the health of the U.S. agricultural economy, surveying 400 agricultural producers monthly on economic sentiment.