Jim Rothermich aka “Land Talker” is a professional in the farmland appraisal space, so who better to discuss farmland investment in Iowa. Today we meet the man himself, and learn about his history in seed and agriculture.
Rothermich has been a licensed appraiser since 2009. He explains his journey, where values have been over the past few years, and last but not least why we believe a fella like Bill Gates would invest in Iowa farmland.
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The farmland market has been on quite the run the past few years. With increases in value close to 50% according to Jim. These values were driven by crop demand, low interest rates, and in some cases even ego. When compared to other real estate investments the return profile on farmland at first blush seems to be a bit on the low side. But time has been the great hero the past three decades with double digit returns in farmland investment being common. With such low volatility farmland was a haven for investors in particular in the past few years as we’ve seen equity markets (growth stock in particular) fluctuate spastically.
So who buys farmland? For a short period of time there seems to be an influx of outside investors. Is China buying a lot of farmland in Iowa? Doesn’t seem to be but we touch on that briefly. Is Bill Gates attempting to control our food source? With less than .03% of ownership of the productive farmland in the United States that seems unlikely.
Listen in as we discuss these topics and a few others around farmland values in Iowa. We will look forward to having Jim back on a regular basis to keep us up to speed on farmland values.
Jim Rothermich aka “Land Talker”
Jim Rothermich is an experienced real estate appraiser specializing in agricultural properties. He has over 30 years of experience in agricultural economics and real estate, joining Iowa Appraisal in 2016.
Rothermich holds multiple professional designations and is a licensed real estate salesperson in Iowa and Missouri. He graduated with a B.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia.