Nebraska cropland sales top $17,000 per acre in November

By Marcus Bennett

A 160-acre Cuming County, Nebraska, farm sold for $17,000 an acre, or $2.72 million, the highest-priced parcel in BigIron Realty's review dated Nov. 10, 2026.

Ron Stock's report summarized the market plainly: "Land continues to sell well." The review says Nebraska cropland values stayed steady and South Dakota values rose. It also reports higher values for high-quality pasture across the Midwest.

Those statements indicate direction, not a transaction index, sales count or percentage change. The report gives no individual sale dates. It places minimum farm marketing time at 45 to 60 days. BigIron compiles reports each month, but it does not handle every sale. Its five Nebraska examples therefore are not a complete November price series.

Ron Stock and his brother Mark co-founded BigIron Auctions and Realty, based in Columbus, Nebraska. The company holds real-estate broker licenses in eight states and lists 800-887-8625.

How do the Nebraska sales compare?

• Northeast — Madison County: 110.76 acres sold at online auction in two tracts for $810,413. The 25.7-acre tract brought $8,200 per acre; the 85.06-acre tract brought $7,050.
• Northeast — Cuming County: 160 acres sold for $17,000 per acre, or $2,720,000. The ground lies flat to very gently sloping, has good gravel-road access and sits half a mile off Highway 51.
• Northeast — Pierce County: 160 acres sold for $13,100 per acre, or $2,096,000. The farm has flat to gently sloping ground and good gravel access, also half a mile from Highway 81.
• East — Dodge County: 154.89 acres sold at online auction for $8,950 per acre, or $1,386,265.50. It has good gravel access along the south side and lies a quarter-mile from Highway 30.
• East — Platte County: 40 acres sold for $10,500 per acre, or $420,000. BigIron's listing calls it "highly productive." It sits just south of Duncan and has access from a hard-surface road.

The Cuming purchase brought more than three times Madison County's total and $9,950 more per acre than the lowest-priced Madison tract. The spread does not measure farm income. The review reports sale terms and property features, but no crop prices, yields, input costs or basis.

What irrigation and soil assets came with the land?

The 25.7-acre Madison tract, near Meadow Grove along Highway 275, includes about 20 acres of cropland, mostly irrigated, and five acres of grassland along Buffalo Creek. Its equipment includes a four-tower T-L center pivot, diesel power unit with generator, gearhead with pump and fuel tank.

The 85.06-acre Madison tract contains nearly 70 acres of cropland, most pivot-irrigated, and about 13 acres of grassland. Buffalo Creek surface-water rights supply the irrigation. The Nebraska Department of Water, Energy and Environment has approved 51.7 acres for irrigation, according to the appropriation.

The sale also included a seven-tower pivot, diesel power unit and generator, fuel and propane tanks, propane power unit with pump, and connecting pipe. BigIron assigned no separate value to that equipment. The report also omits pumping, fuel and maintenance costs.

Pierce County's 135.94 certified irrigated acres come from Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District records. The sale included a 75-horsepower electric irrigation motor and pump, configured for about 800 gallons per minute.

Dodge County's 10-tower pivot had updates from Valley and Reinke. It also included a 60-horsepower Amarillo gearhead and 500-gallon fuel barrel. The property came without the power unit and generator. The farm has tile drainage, grid sampling for soil-fertility management and a long history of seed-corn production.

Platte County's 37.64 cropland acres are irrigated by a neighboring pivot. The sale included an irrigation well on the north side. BigIron's "highly productive" description is a listing claim, not a harvested yield result; the source provides no comparable yield figures.

What does this change for farm margins?

The sales establish price points for five specific parcels, not margins for operating farms. The review reports no operating budget, commodity revenue, basis, yield or margin estimates. Fuel, power, pumping, seed, fertilizer and land costs remain outside the dataset.

For growers weighing a sale, access, water rights, equipment, drainage and productivity still separate one parcel from another. For buyers, irrigation systems, drainage and soil sampling can affect production costs and input needs. The report gives no separate values for those features and no harvested productivity data. Its 51.7-acre Madison approval documents irrigation acreage, not a new subsidy or policy change.

Broader transaction data and verified sale dates will be needed to determine whether the 45-to-60-day marketing window and steady Nebraska values persist. Until then, the examples document transactions in well-located irrigated ground, not a measured rise in farm profitability.