Minnesota land prices show continued increases in median sales prices statewide, but not huge jumps. A database of 2007 Minnesota farm real estate transaction records is newly available at: http://landeconomics.umn.edu The updated printed (pdf) sales summary report is also linked off the farmland sales section. The database allows you to sort prices by various criteria to suite your particular interests.

“Those really high-priced sales we hear about in the coffee shops are real, but they're not typical—and there really are no more of them than we've seen in past years,” says Steven Taff, University of Minnesota professor of agricultural economics who posted the database.

While you're at the Minnesota Land Economics’ Web site, check out the new mapping function: all the data at any level of aggregation you desire. Also available are 2008 estimated land values for all Minnesota cities and townships, representing local assessors' estimates as of January 2008.