First Full “Post-Harvest” Week of Auctions Shows Strength and Stability
The first few farm auctions at the end of harvest tend to be a good indicator of what we can expect in the months ahead. That’s because the number of auctions slows to a crawl as farmers focus on getting their crops out of the field and into the marketplace.
And this year, those first few auctions revealed remarkable stability after a messy, incomplete harvest due to wet weather that made it impossible to harvest some crops.
“We started the busy season off with a bang with 11 auctions in a week, and they painted a consistent picture of a resilient, stable, and predictable market,” said Scott Steffes, president of Steffes Group.
“Farmers this year have had everything possible thrown at them, including soft commodity prices, challenging weather conditions and uncertainty regarding international trade. All of these had a chance to knock the air out of the market, but it’s still holding steady,” said Scott.
Max Steffes, who managed the online auction of more than 800 acres in the Oxbow-Hickson area south of Fargo North Dakota, said the auction attracted a strong field of 46 bidders, resulting in a sale price of more than $5.06 million.
“It was a great auction, with farmland prices showing the strength we’d seen earlier in the year, even though we literally have some crops that couldn’t be harvested in North Dakota. Bidding was even more impressive on the development land, some of which went for as much as $25,000 per acre,” said Max.
“It’s pretty clear that buyers still clearly outnumber sellers. With so much volatility and uncertainty affecting many asset classes, it’s really encouraging that farmland and farm machinery have remained a solid investment for farmers and investors alike,” said Scott. “Our machinery auctions did well, and land prices were very much in line with what you’d expect based on location and quality,” he added.
