Factors Influencing Illinois Farmland Values

A hedonic model of Illinois farmland values is estimated using county-level cross-section time-series data. Explanatory variables include land productivity, parcel size, improvements, distances to Chicago and other large cities, an urban-rural index, livestock production through swine operation scale and farm density measures, population density, income, and inflation. The inclusion of spatial and serial correlation components substantially improves the model fit. Farmland values decline with parcel size, ruralness, distance to Chicago and large cities, and swine farm density, and increase with soil productivity, population density, and personal income. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.