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Michigan Cash Rental Rates +2%

An extension educator says cash rental rates increased slightly during 2023, reflecting higher farmland values.

Jon LaPorte, agricultural business management educator at Michigan State University Extension, tells Brownfield that the trend in Michigan is similar to other Midwestern states.

“While there may be different levels of productivity, we all have to deal with the same commodity markets,” he says. “We still have to deal with the same inflation, those kinds of external factors all have to be dealt with relatively in the same way.”

On average, farmers said they paid $140 per acre for cash rentals on non-irrigated cropland in Michigan, with the largest increases in northern counties.

“In some cases, we’re getting a better understanding of where maybe production is picking up a little bit in some areas, because percentage-wise, there are really big numbers in some of those counties.”

USDA national farmland cash rental rates for non-irrigated cropland increased five percent in 2023 and increased two percent in Michigan.

AUDIO: Jon LaPorte, Michigan State University Extension