Cooperative Extension Service Communications and Technology Department 3354 1000 E. University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071 (307) 766-2540 • fax (307) 766-3998 • www.uwyo.edu

 

For Immediate Release

 

Contact: Robert Waggener, Editor

Phone: (307) 766-3571

E-mail: robertw@uwyo.edu

 

Date: April 11, 2006

UW College of Agriculture may refocus ag land market publication

            The state’s changing agricultural land market may require the University of Wyoming’s College of Agriculture to change the focus of the Wyoming Farm, Ranch, and Rural Land Market, according to one of the authors of the popular UW publication.

“The original intent was to reflect the market for agricultural lands across Wyoming,” said Assistant Professor Chris Bastian of the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. “We’re now seeing so many non-agricultural influences the question becomes do we need to refocus this publication and/or change the methods we use to estimate values and ultimately report the information?”

The department has published the report approximately every three years since the 1970s to show the average sale prices by regions of major types of agricultural lands in Wyoming.

“The bulletins have been very popular. We get requests for them from potential land buyers, ranchers thinking about selling, bankers trying to keep a pulse on the agricultural land market in the state, and real estate appraisers and brokers,” Bastian said.

“We’ve also had requests for people working for state and federal agencies who are looking at leasing, purchasing or selling properties in the state.”

Authors of the 2002-2004 bulletin, which is now on the College of Agriculture Web site, were Bastian; John Hewlett, a Cooperative Extension Service farm and ranch specialist in the agricultural and applied economics department; and UW junior Shannon Freeburn of Fort Laramie. B-1168 is at http://ces.uwyo.edu/PUBS/B1168.pdf.

“Part of what is new in this particular report is that we’re seeing more and more non-agricultural influences affecting agricultural land values in Wyoming,” Bastian said. “The price jumps stem from such things as mineral industry influences and scenic and recreational amenities.”

Bastian said that will likely force future authors to rethink the publication.

Teton County has been the only county excluded from the report because of significant recreational and residential development factors relating to its scenic beauty and the extent of public land holdings (96 percent).

In years past, Bastian said, agricultural production potential was of little or no significance when establishing market values for land in Teton County.

The same now holds true for other counties having agricultural lands with high scenic and recreational values. Among those areas are Johnson and Sheridan counties at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains and the Saratoga area in Carbon County. Energy development is also driving up land costs, according to the report.

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