Farmland analysis
Iowa Farmland Analysis
Soil quality, USDA cash-rent benchmarks, and solar, wind, and CRP income for any Iowa parcel, free, from 6 federal data sources.
AgriTerra Scout is a free tool for analyzing Iowa farmland. Search an address or outline a parcel on the map and Scout reads its soil capability, USDA county cash-rent benchmarks, modeled solar and wind income, water and flood exposure, and conservation-program eligibility, all from 6 federal data sources, with the source and date on every number.
What Scout shows you in Iowa
- Soil capability: NRCS SSURGO soil class, drainage, and productivity for the parcel. See how to read a soil survey and the soil productivity index.
- Cash rent: USDA NASS county cash-rent benchmarks (low / midpoint / high).
- Solar & wind income: modeled from NREL PVWatts for solar and AgriTerra wind resource buckets over NREL/WINDExchange 100 m wind maps, as planning bands rather than developer offers. See the solar leasing guide and wind leasing guide.
- CRP: USDA FSA conservation rental rates on acres the soil data flags as likely eligible. See how CRP works and CRP rates by state.
- Water & flood: USGS water data and the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer.
- Wetlands: USFWS National Wetlands Inventory classifications. See wetlands on your land and hydric soils.
Iowa farmland at a glance
Iowa is the heart of the Corn Belt, with deep Mollisol prairie soils and a two-crop corn-and-soybean rotation across nearly the whole state. That productivity is exactly why Iowa ground draws both the highest cash-rent benchmarks in the country and a steady stream of solar and wind developers looking for flat, high-output acres.
Iowa farms grow corn and soybeans, with hogs and cattle on the livestock side, and its cropland is consistently among the highest-value cropland in the United States. Because that value swings by county and soil, Scout reports the USDA benchmark for the exact parcel you look at rather than a statewide average. See what farmland produces and what it earns.
Analyzing a Iowa parcel
Pre-loaded parcel boundaries are live in Ohio and Indiana first; in Iowa you outline the parcel on the map with the draw tool (a partial slice of a larger field works too) and every federal data layer still reads for that exact footprint.
Once the parcel is set, Scout pulls every layer in parallel and lays the results out as a plain-language comparison (keep farming, cash-rent, enroll in CRP, or lease for solar or wind), each with a per-acre figure and the source behind it. See the land-use optimizer for how the ranking works, check the Iowa cash rent county table, compare a developer offer with the farm vs. solar vs. CRP tool, or farmland analysis in other states.
Evaluate Iowa land for a living?
Lenders, farm managers, appraisers and land agents working Iowa ground use Land Scout Pro for white-label reports under their own brand, client folders, and a multi-parcel portfolio view across every parcel they handle.
Iowa farmland: frequently asked questions
- Does AgriTerra work for Iowa farmland?
- Yes. The federal data layers behind Scout (USDA soils and cash rent, NREL solar and wind, FEMA flood, USGS water, USFWS wetlands) are nationwide, so any Iowa parcel can be analyzed for free. Pre-loaded parcel boundaries are live in Ohio and Indiana first; in Iowa you outline the parcel on the map with the draw tool (a partial slice of a larger field works too) and every federal data layer still reads for that exact footprint.
- What is Iowa farmland worth?
- Iowa cropland is consistently among the highest-value cropland in the United States. Rather than quote a single statewide figure, Scout reports USDA NASS county cash-rent benchmarks for the specific parcel you look at: the low, midpoint, and high for that county, because value in Iowa varies far more by county and soil than any state average captures.
- What grows on Iowa farmland?
- Iowa farms grow corn and soybeans, with hogs and cattle on the livestock side. Iowa is the heart of the Corn Belt, with deep Mollisol prairie soils and a two-crop corn-and-soybean rotation across nearly the whole state. That productivity is exactly why Iowa ground draws both the highest cash-rent benchmarks in the country and a steady stream of solar and wind developers looking for flat, high-output acres.
- Do I need an account to analyze a Iowa parcel?
- No. You can search a Iowa address, pick the parcel, and see soil and cash rent with no account. Running the solar, wind, and CRP comparison is free with a free account, 3 a month. An account or purchase only comes up for the full $89 Decision Report.
See what your Iowa acres could earn.
Run the free analysis on any Iowa parcel: soil, cash rent, and the solar/wind/CRP comparison, each with its source, in under a minute.
Free to start. The full Decision Report is $89.