Friday, August 19, 2022
CapitalPress.com 3
Farmland values up an average of 12%
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
U.S. farmland values
jumped 12.4% this year com-
pared to 2021, with an aver-
age value of $3,800 an acre
nationwide, according to the
USDA National Agricultural
Statistics Service.
Cropland value, at $5,050,
is up an average of 14.3%,
and pasture value at $1,650 is
up 11.5%.
The $420 an acre average
increase in real estate value is
the largest since the reporting
series began in 1997 and the
largest year-over-year per-
centage increase since 2006,
according to a report by the
American Farm Bureau
Federation.
Real estate values vary
signifi cantly across the coun-
try, with the highest values in
areas with large volumes of
high-dollar crops — such as
wine grapes and tree nuts in
California — and areas expe-
riencing upward price pres-
sure due to their proximity to
urban areas with little remain-
ing developable land, the
report said.
Much of the Midwest had
the highest real estate val-
ues, followed by the South
and Pacifi c Northwest, and
fi nally the Plains and Moun-
tain states.
“Part of this increase can
be linked to the rise in com-
modity prices that have trans-
lated to a higher farming
value for land in row crop-
heavy heartland states like
Iowa, Illinois and Indiana,”
said Danny Munch, Farm
Bureau economist and author
of the report.
“Incentives added to gov-
ernment programs — such
as those added in 2021 to the
Conservation Reserve Pro-
gram — that provide fi nan-
cial compensation to land-
owners who voluntarily
enroll and retire highly erod-
ible and environmentally
sensitive lands also contrib-
uted to increased competition
for active cropland, increas-
ing land prices,” he said.
Other factors contributing
to rising land values include
competing land-use inter-
ests, which includes urban
and suburban sprawl, and
the increased investments
into hard assets like land for
a safer return on investment
during a period of high infl a-
tion, he said.
Of the 48 contigu-
ous states, 23 experienced
double-digit
percentage
increases in value. The larg-
est increases were in Kansas,
up 25.2% to $2,630 an acre;
Iowa, up 21.4% to $9,400;
Nebraska, up 21% to $3,750;
and South Dakota, up 18.7%
to $2,600, according to
USDA.
The states with the highest
farmland values were Rhode
Island at $17,500 per acre;
New Jersey at $15,400; Mas-
sachusetts at $15,200; Dela-
ware at $13,700; and Califor-
nia at $12,000.
Like overall agricul-
tural real estate values, aver-
age U.S. cropland values
increased sharply in 2022,
False advertising lawsuit allowed to
proceed against Tillamook cooperative
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A false advertising lawsuit
against the Tillamook dairy
cooperative can proceed,
though the Oregon Court of
Appeals has upheld the dis-
missal of certain allegations.
Three years ago, sev-
eral consumers fi led a com-
plaint against the Tillamook
County Creamery Asso-
ciation for allegedly mis-
representing its livestock
practices and its products’
geographic origins.
Specifi cally, the four
plaintiff s — Sonja Bohr,
Tamara Barnes, Karen
Foglesong and Mary Wood
— claim that most of the
cooperative’s milk is pro-
duced by cows confi ned in
an “industrialized dairy fac-
tory” in Morrow County,
rather than living on small
family farms with access
to pastures in Tillamook
County.
The dairy coopera-
tive vowed to aggressively
defend against the lawsuit,
which seeks class action sta-
tus that would allow other
consumers to join in the
litigation.
The lawsuit was fi led
at the behest of the Animal
Legal Defense Fund, which
advocates for people to stop
eating dairy products alto-
gether, the cooperative said.
The cooperative said its
“farmer-members and sup-
pliers all take good care
of our animals,” including
Three Mile Canyon Farms
in Boardman, Ore., which is
recognized for leadership in
“environmental stewardship
and sustainable agriculture.”
While the arguments in
the court of public opinion
centered on animal care, the
disagreements in state court
have been more technical.
The litigation has largely
focused on whether the law-
suit’s legal theories are plau-
sible violations of the Ore-
gon Unfair Trade Practices
Act.
Multnomah County Cir-
cuit Judge Kelly Skye dis-
missed some of the allega-
tions at the cooperative’s
request, agreeing they didn’t
square with the statute’s
requirements.
While the judge allowed
some claims to survive, she
said a proposed class action
must be “limited to con-
rising to $5,050 per acre.
“The distribution across
the country follows a simi-
lar pattern as overall farmland
value, with California and
Northeast urban states claim-
ing the highest average crop-
land values. Again, follow-
ing that top category is much
of the Midwest and Northern
Plains, followed by the South
and then the rest of the coun-
try,” Munch said.
Similar to overall agricul-
tural real estate values and
cropland values, pastureland
values posted strong gains
from the previous year, com-
ing in at $1,650 per acre on
average for the U.S.
“However, the distribution
of pastureland values across
the country diff ers from the
cropland values and real
estate values,” he said.
Some of the more valuable
pastureland is concentrated
in the South and the mid-
South, areas with less density
of high-value row crops and
more regular precipitation, he
said.
sumers who purchased Til-
lamook products in reliance
on the Tillamook marketing
representations.”
The plaintiff s disagreed
the class should be defi ned
more narrowly, arguing that
all consumers paid infl ated
prices for Tillamook prod-
ucts, regardless if they
were specifi cally moti-
vated by the cooperative’s
marketing.
Without concluding the
lawsuit, the judge referred
this legal issue and others to
an interlocutory appeal. In
exceptional cases, the Ore-
gon Court of Appeals agrees
to resolve “controlling ques-
tions of law” before a lawsuit
is fi nished.
The Oregon Court of
Appeals has now upheld the
dismissal of certain allega-
tions and agreed the pro-
posed class must be limited
to consumers who’d demon-
strated “reliance” on alleged
false advertising.
The
appellate
court
declined to decide other legal
questions, such as whether
the “source” of a product
refers to its manufacturer or
its geographic origin.
It’s not yet necessary to
resolve such issues, even if
the plaintiff s decide to move
forward with the narrower
class defi nition, the ruling
said.
The lawsuit may still set-
tle or fail to achieve class
action status, since it’s tough
to prove the purchase moti-
vation of a large number of
people, the ruling said.
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Farm real estate value, per acre
Location
Dollars
% change from 2021
Calif.
12,000
10.1
Idaho
3,700
10.4
Ore.
3,040
9.0
Wash.
3,100
6.9
U.S.
3,800
12.4
Location
Dollars
% change from 2021
Calif.
15,410
11.2
Idaho
4,950
11.2
Ore.
3,650
10.3
Wash.
2,940
8.9
U.S.
5,050
14.3
Location
Dollars
% change from 2021
Calif.
3,550
14.5
Idaho
1,970
15.9
Ore.
900
8.4
Wash.
820
9.3
1,650
11.5
Cropland value, per acre
Pasture value, per acre
U.S.
Source: USDA-NASS
La Nina getting stronger,
expected to stay for fall
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The Oregon Court of Appeals has allowed a false adver-
tising lawsuit against the Tillamook dairy cooperative
to proceed, albeit with narrowed legal claims.
Farmland values 2022
The National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Admin-
istration predicted Aug. 11
that a La Nina has a strong
chance of staying through
the end of the year, but
may fade in the middle of
winter.
La Nina, linked to cool
and wet weather in the
Northwest, has prevailed
the last two winters. La
Nina rarely reigns for three
consecutive winters. That
has occurred only twice
since 1950.
NOAA said this La
Nina has a 60% chance of
remaining in place through
December. By January, the
chances of a La Nina drop
to 47%.
The La Nina should
infl uence fall and early
winter weather, though the
rarity of a third-straight
La Nina makes long-range
forecasts diffi cult, Wash-
ington State Climatologist
Nick Bond said.
“There have been so
few cases, we can’t really
generalize,”
he
said.
“Right now, I’m very
guardedly optimistic that
we’ll have a decent start
to the water year,” which
begins Oct. 1.
Below-average sea-sur-
face temperatures along
the equator in the Pacifi c
Ocean trigger a La Nina.
Above-average tempera-
tures trigger an El Nino.
A La Nina is linked to
cool and wet weather in the
northern tier of the U.S.,
but warm and dry sea-
sons in the southern tier.
La Nina exerts its greatest
infl uence in the winter.
A month ago, NOAA
anticipated La Nina might
fade in the fall but come
back in the winter. In July,
however, the ocean cooled,
after warming toward nor-
mal in June.
NOAA now estimates
an 86% chance the La Nina
will stay through Septem-
ber and an 80% chance
though October.
By January, it’s a tos-
sup whether the sea-sur-
face temperatures will be
cool or neutral. NOAA sees
almost no chance for an El
Nino to form.