By JESSE HELLING
Messenger staff writer

Another short-lived record for Iowa farmland values was broken in 2008.

An annual land value survey conducted by Iowa State University Extension showed that an acre of farmland is worth an average of $4,468, a 14.3 percent increase from 2007.

That marks a new record — shattering last year’s then-highest average value. Farmland values have increased every year since 1999, when average land values stood at $1,781 per acre.

The 2008 average was an increase of $560 over last year, the second-highest dollar increase ever recorded in the 67 years that ISU has conducted the survey. The 2007 survey reported a $704 increase over the previous year. The 2008 figure was an increase of 14 percent over 2007, compared with a 22 percent increase last year. Over the past 40 years, the survey has found annual changes ranging from an increase in value of 31.9 percent in 1973 to a loss of 30.2 percent in 1985.