Illinois Land Values Conference March 17

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — The state of Illinois farmland values will be the focus of the 2022 Illinois Farmland Values Conference scheduled for March 17 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Bloomington.

The annual forum is hosted by the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.

“Prices being paid for farmland across the state have been on a wild, mostly upward ride during the past year,” said Luke Worrell, Worrell Land Services, Jacksonville, and Land Values Project overall chair.

“Right now I don’t see anything that could cause this to change in 2022. We will be taking a look at multiple factors that come into play on this.”

Opening keynote speaker for the half-day program will be David Oppedahl with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago who will address trends in farmland values and credit conditions.

That will be followed by a panel discussion of society members who will address various farmland auction formats that are being used across the state.

A second panel will focus on the challenges facing rural appraisers as they work to keep with the demand for their service in such an active and volatile market.

The morning program will wrap up with the presentation on the results of a broad survey of society members on farmland values across Illinois during 2021 and forecasts for 2022.

“This is the culmination of the gathering of a tremendous amount of data by our members from across 10 geographic regions of the state. This is compiled and put into our annual Land Values and Lease Trends Report, a 124-page book which will be given to everyone in attendance,” Worrell said.

The program will get underway at 8 a.m. and end at noon. Advance registration is not required, but is encouraged.

“We anticipate very large turnout for this year’s event, our first in-person Land Values Conference in three years, so the better we know how many are coming the better we can be prepared,” Worrell said.

Registration can be done online at www.ispfmra.org or at the door on March 17. Cost is $70 for ASFMRA and RLI members and $85 for non-members.

Everyone attending will receive a copy of the 2022 Illinois Land Values and Lease Trends Report.