Fed Says Minnesota Farmland Prices Keep Rising

ST. PAUL  (AP) - Minnesota farmland prices are maintaining their sharp rise, and officials with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis say the higher prices reflect the strong agricultural economy.

A recent Fed survey of bankers in its five-state area shows that farmers are bidding land prices to new highs, in some cases over $10,000 an acre. While some experts fear land prices could be the next real estate bubble, there's no sign of a downturn so far.

Fed officials say Minnesota farmland prices at the end of September were about 28 percent higher than a year earlier. Other Midwest states are seeing similar increases.

Joe Mahon, an economist for the Minneapolis Fed, says the bankers surveyed attribute the sharp increases to high profits from strong commodity and livestock prices.

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