AGRICULTURE: Peak Reached?

The boom in farm land reached a familiar milestone. After nine years of steady climbing, said the Department of Agriculture, farmland prices had finally hit the peak reached in the post-World War I land boom. Prices rose 7% last year to 205 (1935-1939 equals 100), the 1920 top. And in 32 states, particularly in the southwest where irrigation had increased productivity, land values had long overshot their post-World War I mark.

Had the crest cf the boom been reached? The department found some evidence that it had. In three states (Florida, California and Louisiana), land prices had begun to sag. Land values almost everywhere else were still rising, but the rate was down from 1947. Income-wise, farm land was still cheaper than at the peak of the World War I boom, as the cash yield per acre is now 59% higher.

Most farmers had learned to put their fat profits to good use. Mortgages had been paid off; those that still remained were generally low in relation to farm income. The farmers still remembered how prices had collapsed after the World War I boom (see cut) as overmortgaged farmers had been sold out. This time they had reason to hope that the decline—when it comes—would be gradual.