An analysis of trends in California farmland sales over the past 20 years shows that values jumped following droughts and correlate to urban development pressures. In a recent paper, UC agricultural economists explored a new set of sales data that allowed them to dive deeper into the factors affecting values.
They found that farm earnings are “weakly supporting farmland values, perhaps due to uncertainty arising from climate change and lower agricultural productivity.” They also concluded that farm parcels tended to sell for higher prices when closer to a city.
Farm sales fetch highest dollar near cities
Urban sprawl in Sacramento. (photo: Department of Water Resources)
