The Transition of a Hunting Retreat to Row Crop Farm

A 219.85-acre property used as a private hunting retreat for 20 years recently sold to a local farmer who plans to transition the land back into a row crop farm. Located in northeast Nebraska, close to Norfolk, the land sold at the beginning of this year for $8,429.94 an acre for a total of about $1.8 million.

The new owner is working to have the land ready for this year’s planting season, according to Randy Oertwich, the agent who handled the sale for United Farm and Ranch Management.

The Property

“I advertised it as a hunter’s dream property and it truly was,” Oertwich said. “It had high pheasant numbers.” The property included native grasses that created an ideal habitat for pheasant, quail, deer, and turkey hunting. The land also had a secluded cabin, rolling hills, and a picturesque overlook of the Elkhorn River Valley.

Oertwich was a little surprised when it was sold to someone who doesn’t plan to use it recreationally like the previous owner. But he also understands why the land couldn’t find a buyer who wanted to keep it the way it was. He says the price and size of the land made it out of reach for a lot of potential buyers.

The hunting land had been enrolled in USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for about 20 years, according to Oertwich. It had recently been re-enrolled in the program and was in its second year of a 10-year contract with a $238 annual per-acre rental rate. Part of the program pays owners to keep the land out of production and instead plant grasses that prevent erosion.

The Sale

The property was not on the market for long. It was listed at $1,813,750 and brought in a full-price offer in three weeks. Oertwich says the land had a lot of interest, although not as much as traditional farmland usually generates. He also says the land was priced below market value in the area to accommodate the cost of taking it out of CRP. While the price per acre may seem like a deal, the upfront expense of getting it ready for planting season will be significant for the new owner.

CRP in Nebraska

Prior to CRP enrollment, the land was rented by the owner to a farmer who raised corn and soybeans.

Oertwich thinks the sale of this land, and its new owner’s plans for it, may suggest that the CRP per-acre payment, known as the rental rate, was too low to entice people to keep it in this specific program. “The profit potential for row cropping isn’t that high, but the rental rate is too low,” he said. “If the rental rate would have been higher, I am sure it would have been sold to someone who would keep it in grass because it was an exceptional pheasant hunting area.”

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission helps support landowners who want to enroll in CRP. There are three main programs that help crop farmers and pasture owners. Agriculture Program Manager Jennifer Prenosil says rental rates vary greatly by state and by county and are based on a formula that mostly considers the soil. The formula is also different for crop ground and grassland. She says the program has a strong history in Nebraska, a state full of crop and cattle farms and also known for its hunting.

Prenosil believes cropland CRP could be more enticing for some people, especially for owners who enroll their entire field. “I think if rental rates were a bit higher, we would see more interest and also be retaining more ground,” she said.

Land Values in Nebraska

Like other states in the Midwest, land values in Nebraska dipped recently. According to the Center for Agriculture Profitability at the University of Nebraska, values for all land dropped by 2% for the year ending Feb. 1, 2025. This comes out to $3,935 per acre, down from last year’s record-setting $4,015 per acre.

Jim Jansen, agriculture economist for the University of Nebraska, put together the Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Report and Survey released in March. He says Nebraska’s farmland market is historically stable because transactions are relatively limited from year to year. “Generational ownership and long-term investment perspectives may contribute to cushioning against sharp declines in market value,” he said.

According to the report, land industry professionals who responded to the survey attributed the drop in real estate values to crop prices, interest rate levels, and farm input costs. Jansen says even with all these economic pressures, land values are resilient due to fairly stable demand, limited land availability, and continued interest from producers and investors.

“Lower interest rates during COVID-19 may have supported land values,” he said. “In recent years, rising interest rates to combat inflation may have helped moderate land values.”

The report also gives a state-wide economic view of the last year by estimating that lower corn and soybean prices reduced crop receipts across the state by about $1.59 billion, but were partially offset by higher cattle and calf prices of $1.09 billion. The differences in crop and livestock profitability were reflected in the market value of the land classes serving each industry. Forecasts for Nebraska indicate that net farm income will further decline in 2025 due to ongoing lower crop prices and high input expenses.

Produced in partnership with American Farmland Owner (AFO). AFO aims to help landowners make informed decisions for their farmland while ensuring the prosperity of American agriculture.