Approximately 8,638 acres of Illinois farmland sold for $55,311,000 in a Schrader Real Estate and Auction Co. auction on Monday. The winning bid for 4,869 acres in Mercer County and 3,769 acres in Fulton County came from an investor seeking to purchase all of the land.

The land, part of Wilder Farms holdings, was offered in 46 tracts ranging from 15 acres to 597 acres. Most interested parties were large investors, according to R.D. Schrader, president of the auction company.

“The operators were in the room, but the investors won out. It was just a question of whether we had one buyer or a few,” Schrader notes.

The auction attracted 64 registered bidders to the Union Grand Ballroom at Western Illinois University in Macomb.

“I felt that this would be an interesting test of the market for this type of land, because there had not been an offering on this scale in quite some time,” Schrader explains. “The price per acre of just over $6,400 exceeded the expectations of many of the observers for the predominantly levee-assessed river bottom land. It’s evident that major investors continue to regard Midwestern farmland as a sound long-term investment.”

Schrader believes demand for cropland from operators and investors will continue next year.

Source: Schrader Real Estate and Auction Co.