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DAYTON — In sharp contrast to the real estate slowdown and foreclosure crisis in many of Ohio's largest cities, the value of the state's cropland is soaring.

Bare cropland is fetching an average of $3,920 per acre this year. That's up 10 percent in the past year — the fastest annual rate of increase in at least nine years.

The price of cropland has nearly doubled from $1,990 per acre in 1997.

The land prices, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and based on a survey of farmers in June, have been fueled partly by much higher prices for commodities such as corn, soybeans and wheat, said Barry Ward of Ohio State University Extension.

"More farmer investors are getting into the land-buying business than maybe we saw in the last five to six years," Ward said.

And nonfarmers see land as a good investment. Ward said: "It's very inviting when we start seeing 10 percent returns," — and that doesn't include cash rent that landowners receive annually from those who farm their acreage.

Cropland hasn't decreased significantly in value since the farm crisis of the 1980s.

Values jumped even more rapidly in some nearby states. Pennsylvania's average cropland price jumped 17 percent in the past year to $6,000 per acre, while Illinois' jumped 16 percent to $4,460 per acre. Indiana's cropland values rose 10 percent to $4,050 per acre.

Ward's annual survey of Ohio cropland values last fall found prime cropland in southwest Ohio was expected to fetch $4,616 per acre in 2007.

Jim Hanna, who has appraised cropland for 28 years, said prime cropland in areas he covers — primarily Clinton, Fayette and Madison counties — is fetching $4,000 to $5,000 per acre. A 707-acre Clinton County farm he recently put on the market is priced at $4,800 per acre, he said.

"For these grain farmers, times are pretty good right now," Hanna said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or bsutherly@coxohio.com