Wrap: Across the Midwest, farmland prices are increasing to levels higher than ever before.

Estil Fretwell, a spokesperson for the Missouri Farmers Bureau, says the high costs of crop products and increased competition for land has driven this sudden boom.  

Fretwell says the surge in land prices will discourage the next generation of farmers.

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Description: "If younger people, if it's more difficult for them to first get involved in farming because of pricing going up, it's going to discourage people from getting involved in farming. So certainly that's a concern."

Republican Koeltztown Representative Tom Loehner is sponsoring a bill to help these young farmers.

Under the bill, struggling farmers could lease land at reasonable prices from the state.

There was no opposition to the bill in its committee hearing.

Reporting from Jefferson City, I'm Elizabeth Hagedorn.

Wrap: One Boonville real estate agent says its the number one concern coming into his office.

Young farmers can't afford the cost of land.

Real estate agent Mitch Leonard says an increase in crop prices has driven up the cost of farmland to a point where the it is no longer affordable.

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Description: "It's pretty much impossible for a young farmer to start up one without family assistance or something like that because the prices are overwhelming."

Republican Koeltztown Representative Tom Loehner is sponsoring a bill to help young farmers lease farmland at reasonable prices from the state.

Leonard says such a measure would be very helpful to farmers in his community lacking the resources to start farms on their own.

Reporting from the Jefferson City, I'm Elizabeth Hagedorn.

 

Wrap: Historic levels of farmland prices have some fearing the country is on the brink of a farming bubble.

The Missouri Farmers Bureau says if prices get too high, the land may no longer be affordable for farmers looking to buy land.

But Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank's econmist Brian Briggeman says an increase in farmland values will bring more money to struggling rural communities.

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Description: "Those property taxes are set based off the value of farmland in general in most palces. And as those values continues to rise that could increase tax revenues potentially.

The price of farmland in Missouri has increased 6.6 percent in some parts of Missouri this year alone.

Reporting from Jefferson City, I'm Elizabeth Hagedorn.