How to determine what your farm is worth before selling

The backbone of a farm's value is the soil that produces income. For each tillable acre, I assign a value from recent sales and from the income the ground can generate: typical cash rent, capitalized into value. This is the layer lenders understand first, so it has to be right.

Wisconsin figures give a frame: statewide cropland averaged around $7,000 to $7,500 per acre in 2025. But your township's recorded sales do the actual talking.

Then the buildings: the machine shed, the barn, the house, the granary with a working elevator. I value them for what a buyer can actually use and what maintenance will demand. A well-kept shop adds real value. A roof on its last season subtracts a negotiation.

Timber can be the surprise: a mature woods on the slope can hold more value in sawtimber than all the pasture. I use a cruising record and land-specific comparisons. Pasture carries by the acre and the fence; ponds, springs and road frontage get their own entries.

Farms carry history, and it counts at the closing table, not as sentiment, as marketing. A family farm with a loved house and a loyal operator sells to a buyer who will respect the story, and that buyer often pays more because they plan to stay. Write the story down, keep the records, and price the farm in layers like this. That is a number you can defend, and defend it we will.