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The article reports on the decline of farmland values in parts of the U.S. Midwest in the third quarter of 2015 due to a downdraft in the agricultural sector driven by lower crop prices, according to the Federal Reserve System.

The article reports that farmland values fell in the first quarter of 2014, focusing on prices for farmland without irrigation systems in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Kansas district and average prices for agricultural land in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Missouri district.

The article discusses declining farmland values in the U.S. Midwest in 2013 and contributory factors, including corn prices, high interest rates, and poor weather.

The article reports that despite the summer 2012 U.S. drought which has severely affected crop yields, the price of farmland in the Midwest is level or rising, with much of it remaining above the 10,000 dollars per acre benchmark.

The article reports on the role of the surge in grain prices in the increase in farmland values in Midwestern States. The cited factors that influenced the rise in farmland values are huge losses by companies involved in the subprime mortgage market and the resultant credit crunch. The improved returns across the corn-production areas in the state are attributed by agricultural economist Bruce Johnson to demand by the ethanol industry. It expects any decline in cash prices for wheat and soybeans to negatively impact the profit potential of the land.