Virginia farmland values rose again in 2026, following a national trend that has pushed agricultural land prices to record highs even as the pace of growth slows, according to the US Department of Agriculture's 2026 Land Values Summary.

Virginia farm real estate averaged $6,300 an acre this year, up 3.3 percent from $6,100 in 2025. Cropland rose 3.7 percent to $6,400 an acre and pasture 2.5 percent to $5,430 an acre. The total value of the state's farmland and buildings reached $43.92 billion in 2025, up 2.8 percent.

All three Virginia figures are above the national averages of $4,500 an acre for farm real estate, $6,020 for cropland and $2,000 for pasture, and above the Appalachian regional averages of $5,820, $6,190 and $4,880.

Nationally, USDA put the rise in farm real estate at 3.4 percent, the sixth straight annual increase, with cropland up 3.3 percent and pasture up 4.2 percent. Since 2020, farm real estate values have climbed nearly 44 percent, cropland 48 percent and pasture nearly 43 percent. Cash rents have offered little relief: average US cropland rent slipped by only $1 to $160 an acre in 2026 and remains 15 percent above its 2020 level, according to American Farm Bureau Federation economist Daniel Munch.

"Higher values strengthen farm balance sheets and provide landowners with additional equity and collateral, but they also raise the cost of buying, renting and expanding an operation," Munch said, adding that farmland prices increasingly reflect more than farm earnings.

Tony Banks, senior assistant director of commodity and marketing for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, said development, energy projects, outside investment and changes in family ownership all compete for a limited land base. "Virginia farmers are competing for a limited land base, and agriculture isn't always the only bidder," he said, noting that rising values help owners but make it harder for the next farmer to rent or buy land.

The report is from the Virginia Farm Bureau.

Photo: Ser Amantio di Nicolao / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Source: Morning Ag Clips