Landowners' Conference Offers Bit of Optimism in a Difficult Year
Published: Friday, October 16, 2026
Purdue Extension educators packed their first-ever Land of Opportunity Conference itinerary with topics vital to owners of farm and forestland, shoehorning it all into six and half hours last Monday in Wabash. Going in the doors of the Honeywell Center that morning, participants may not have realized how quickly the day would go and how engaging the information shared would be. They left with a lot of useful knowledge, complimentary black and gold clipboards scribbled with their notes, educational handouts, and perhaps even a bit of optimism in what has been, in many ways, a tough farming year thus far.
Conference point person, Jenna Nees, Purdue Extension state Farm Management specialist, said she and a small team of Extension educators worked together on a grant through the North Central Risk Management Center to make the day possible.
Attendance was a little lower than hoped due to the weather being perfect for harvesting, keeping some in their combines instead of conference chairs. But those able to attend benefited from an impressive roster, which included keynote lecturers Howard Halderman, Halderman Farm Management and Real Estate Services, and Roger McEowen, professor of agriculture law and taxation from Washburn University of Law in Topeka, Kan. Purdue University community development specialist Tamara Ogle closed the day as capnote speaker, updating the audience on the seemingly ever-changing farmland property tax formulations.
Halderman, who is CEO of the third-generation family company, took the microphone covering hot topics "Where is Farmland Headed in the Fall of 2026?" and "What is the Right Cash Rent for 2027?" He reported farmland values, at least in the eastern Corn Belt, remain strong with the trend being stable to slightly higher so far in 2026. He added that the current trend is that most farmland sales happen in the fourth quarter of the year, with the second most sales in the first quarter.
"Last year, 2025 was an all-time high in the farmland real-estate market. Although with inflation factored in, 2025 was slightly below 2022. This year is nominally higher so far. Recreational, timber and rural residential land values remain strong," Halderman said.
He explained that 63% of Indiana's land is used for agriculture and that a number of factors affect farmland value. These include the productivity index, location, ease of access, and size and shape of the fields (which affects the suitability for farming with larger equipment).
He also reported that farm debt is creeping up and that a survey showed that most owners plan for cash rent of their land to stay the same or increase only slightly for 2027. He also touched on the topics of foreign ownership and how alternative energy installations may affect property values—conclusion was that neither significantly affect land values at this time.
Halderman finished by outlining both bull and bear market predictions for farmland values this fall saying that a number of factors could affect the way the market goes. Those include farm debt to asset ratio, global production and crop prices, interest rates, inflation, the number of farms for sale, demand for biofuels, trade deals and tariffs, world population growth, world economy and weather.
It's worth noting that both Halderman and Phil Woolery, in the forestry breakout session, touted farmland and harvestable hardwoods, respectively, as investments paralleling that of gold. In a year filled with expensive inputs and uncertain markets, it was slightly reassuring to hear this comparison.
In the first breakout session, Langemeier, who is director of the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture, cited results from their 2026 Farmland Value & Cash Rent Survey, which has been conducted annually since 1974. Using this, he explained the major cropland rental options.
"Almost 40% of US farmland is leased to farm operators, 50% in Indiana. These leases generally fall into one of three categories: crop share; cash rent, or flexible cash rent."
Looking at another survey from Illinois in 2025, 33% of farms used a crop share lease where operating expenses and revenue are split between landowner and operator, both sharing the risk. Then, 35% used cash rent where the landowner gets a fixed dollar amount per acre and the operator shoulders all the risk and keeps any profit. Finally, flexible cash rent was used by about 27% of operations; here the landowner gets a reduced base rent in exchange for a share of possible windfalls.
"Cash rent amounts usually lag crop performance since good yields over a few years will drive up future rent prices. According to Purdue September 2026 survey, 21.7% expect cash rent to go up for 2027, reflecting good yields in recent years. However, the survey also reported net return to the land is forecast to decrease in 2027," he explained.
He concluded that, in a good year, a crop share lease will usually yield the best return to the landowner, with flexible cash rent next best, and cash rent the lowest return per acre for the landowner. In a high cost/low yield year the opposite is likely true—cash rent is best, followed by flexible cash rent, with crop share lease yielding the lowest return for the landowner. Of course, the caveat is that no one knows the future and lease agreements are made beforehand.
Although the second keynote speaker, McEowen, has spent most of his adult life living and working in Kansas, he was raised on a farm in Whitley County. His brother still operates the family farm there, producing row crops and beef cattle.
He opened his lecture with the statement, "Farmland is far more than dirt. Rural real estate ownership represents a complex bundle of distinct legal rights and statutory obligations."
He broke down the topic into three core categories during his presentation, "So You Own Rural Land: Legal & Tax Issues You Must Know:" 1-statutory duties (such as boundary maintenance, partition fences, drainage rules and livestock containment); 2-tax classifications (productivity formulas, circuit breaker caps, classified forests and rental tax reporting), and 3- estate succession (preventing forced-partition lawsuits and structuring orderly family wealth transfers).
McEowen also identified key areas of farmland stewardship. The first comprises titles, boundaries and neighbor law, with the second area being premises liability and farm leases. Drainage, taxation and succession make up the third.
His well-organized, information-packed presentation and accompanying 11-page handout was eye-opening for some in the audience. He advised attendees to get all agreements in writing whether they are for farmland rental, hunting and fishing leases or other purposes. And, he stressed landowners should separate their farm-operating and off-farm heirs in estate planning so that siblings are not forced into sharing unmanaged land deeds and titles.
He also cautioned that landowners make sure to understand all the resources they control related to that land. For instance, just because they own surface land does not necessarily mean they control the oil, gas and mineral rights below it or the timber or hunting rights. Easements and recommendations for establishing legal boundary descriptions were two more of many points discussed during McEowen's talk.
The capnote presentation by Ogle provided an in-depth explanation of the complex, and occasionally convoluted, process of tax valuation of farmland.
"In Indiana the assessed tax value is based on the income that can be generated by the farmland. Inputs that go into determining this value are the base rate per acre, the acre's soil productivity factor and the land's influence factors," she explained.
She further defined each of these factors. The base rate per acre is calculated each year by the Department of Local Government Finance. This number is based on the history of rental fees, yields, commodity prices, costs and interest rates associated with that land. The soil productivity multiplier is shown on the land's "Property Record Card" found on the Indiana Geographic Information Office website or in the county assessor's office. Then, the influence factor can reduce assessments when the land has certain mitigating characteristics like frequent flooding or forest cover.
After formulation based on those three numbers, assessment is reduced by the new Senate Enrollment Act 1. This decreases the assessed value by increasing percentages (6, 12, 19, 25, 30 and 33.34 percent, respectively) over the next six years (2026 through 2031). The adjusted assessment is multiplied by your local tax rate which results in your property tax bill.
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