Clay County farmland sells for record price
by
Dara Newson
Story Created:
Feb 8, 2012 at 11:51 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Feb 9, 2012 at 12:53 PM CDT
A 160-acre farm in Clay County sold for $12,000 an acre Monday morning. For the state of Nebraska the sale is a record setter.
Ruhter Auction President Randy Ruhter says he believes the farmland is the highest per acre amount ever sold for Nebraska.
News 5 spoke with both Randy and the seller of the Harvard property Wednesday and they said the purchase was very significant for a number of reasons.
Some may call it a steady march upward.
*About three weeks ago we sold some farms that were about in the high $11,000 range and $11,700 to $11,680 and at that time that was the high. This $12,000, as far as we know, is probably the highest for sure in Central Nebraska and probably all of Nebraska," Ruhter said.
According to Ruhter the prices of farm real estate are even 80 to 100 percent higher than last year.
"I've been in the auction business since 1976 and when i started the farms we were saling were in $600-$1000 range and now we're in $600-$1000 range per acre, now we've reached $12,000 and it's just been a steady climate up," said Ruhter.
High commodity prices and good crops in the last few years have put more money in farmer's pockets making it even more apparent how valuable Nebraska farmland truly is.
"What drives our market here is the ability to produce seed corn, with two large seed production companies in Hastings and three or four around York that has a significant affect on our ag market,"
While it's a record setting buy for Nebraska farmland, it's bittersweet for the owner Laurie Glantz-Murphy born in Harvard and now lives in California.
"My grandfather had 180 acres and my dad bought the acres beside it and you know it's just been 3 generations but no one is there to farm anymore, it was time let it go," said Glantz-Murphy. "It is sad it's the end of another family farm and I'm glad somebody else is going to take it over."
The farm was purchased by Tim Cook of Hastings on behalf of his brother, Vern Cook Jr. who resides in Kentucky.
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