The 2025 annual survey of cash rental rates for Iowa farmland shows that rates decreased, on average, by 2.9 percent in 2025 to $271 per acre. It’s the first decline in cash rents since 2019, after a peak of $279 per acre during the previous two years of the survey. Crop reporting districts saw different results in cash rents, ranging from a drop of 6.9 percent in South Central Iowa to an increase of 2.8 percent in Southeast Iowa.
There was considerable variability across the counties in year-to-year changes, as is typical of survey data. A total of 68 of Iowa’s 99 counties reported decreases in average rents for corn and soybean acres. High-quality land experienced a decrease of 3.4 percent, from $328 an acre last year to $317 in 2025. Medium-quality land dropped 2.5 percent to $271 in 2025, while low-quality land experienced a three percent decrease to $225.
