While common sense says low commodity prices should mean land prices are going down in Nebraska, there are few sales to prove this, says Ron Stock, co-owner and CEO at Stock Realty & Auction Co.

"We think land values have gone down, but there just isn't enough sales data to really confirm scientifically what that number is," Stock says. "People have been pricing their land for sale at last year's prices, and we're not getting any offers that are at last year's prices. Where we are getting offers is at 20% less than last year's prices."

LAND VALUES DECLINE: While there haven't been enough sales to confirm how much values have declined, Ron Stock, co-owner and CEO at Stock Realty

"The landowners that were thinking about selling get wind that prices have gone down, and they think, 'I'll just keep it,'" Stock adds. "The thing that's probably keeping prices from falling completely is scarcity — there's not a lot of land coming to the market."

It's also taking longer to sell land on the market — about 90 to 120 days.

And that's largely a result of lower commodity prices and low cash flow, Stock says. "Right now, the typical farmer is worrying about minimizing losses instead of worrying about making a profit," he says. "The farmers with money are holding on to their money and are in a 'wait-and-see' mode. The farmers that would like to buy land and are borrowing money are not getting approval from their banks to borrow it."

But low commodity prices affect more than just land values. They're also affecting the number of cattle on feed. "As corn and cattle prices go down, there are more pounds being put on livestock, because the corn price is so low," Stock says. "So there are going to be extra pounds put on fat cattle. If you look at it that way, the supply of beef is higher without any increase in cattle numbers. So it's hard to see any optimism in the outlook for cattle, either. It's a unique situation in that there is probably not one part of the ag picture that looks promising right now — in past years, it was either cattle or corn."

But it isn't all doom and gloom. Crop conditions are looking optimistic. According to the USDA crop progress report at the end of July, 59% of Nebraska's corn crop was rated good, and 18%, excellent. USDA is predicting the third-largest corn crop produced.

On another positive note, most producers are in good financial condition. "They've got a lot of equity, and their equity-to-loan ratio is very manageable at this point because equity has not eroded that much," Stock says. "I don't think there's any panic going on. It's just a real quiet time for land sales."

Ron Stock contributed to this report. Stock is a licensed real estate broker and has been in business with his brother, Mark, since 1984. He is licensed in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Missouri.