In 2018 Agriculture and Natural Resource (ANR) agents were surveyed to estimate land values and rental rates for various types of farmland.  A total of 70 ANR agents completed this survey out of 120 counties, representing approximately 60% of the state total.  These responses were distributed between the three geographic regions as follows: Western KY (30), Central KY (23), and Eastern KY (17).  These regions were further divided into a total of 8 sub-regions based on similar land attributes (see map on page 3).  This document summarizes the results from this survey.  Dollar values are rounded to the nearest $5-10 for rental rates and $100 for land values.

There are several important points to make regarding the survey and how it should be interpreted.  First, the responses are the best estimates of the responding ANR agents, and there will be a certain amount of estimation error that should be expected in this data.  Second, the reported figures in this document are averages of the county estimates aggregated at the region and sub-region level, not at the county level.  There will be some counties in each sub-region whose average land values and rents are lower or higher than the stated sub-region average.  Note also that there will be individual farms within a county whose land values or rental rates are considerably higher or lower than the average figure.  Thus these figures are not intended to represent ranges of individual farms or tracts of land.  Actual land values and rental rates of individual farmland will be influenced heavily by productivity, accessibility, competition, and distance to markets.  Third, the validity of these estimates decreases as we move from region to sub-region.  In particular, sub-regions with few responses should be used with caution (these can be found on the map on page 3).  Also, because the responding counties change from year to year, the resulting averages will be influenced by the change in respondents, particularly around the urban areas of Lexington and Louisville where development or amenity value typically have more impact than actual farmland value on prices. 

Author(s) Contact Information: 

Greg Halich | greg.halich@uky.edu 

Samantha Kindred  |  samantha.kindred@uky.edu

Karen Pulliam