Farmland Atlas · county record

Weld County, Colorado

Weld County, CO: non-irrigated cash rent $25 an acre (2026); land and buildings $3,798 an acre in the 2022 census. County averages from public records, not an appraisal of any farm. FIPS 08123. Figures as of 2026-10-14.

Cash rent, non-irrigated
$25/ac
2026 county average
CO median $30 · 8th lowest of 24
Cash rent, irrigated
$202/ac
2026 county average
CO median $155 · 7th highest of 30
Land and buildings
$3,798/ac
2022: what operators guessed land and buildings were worth · CO cropland 2026: $2,960 (state survey)
CO median $2,765 · 18th highest of 58
Corn yield, 2021-25 average
185.7 bu/ac
high and low dropped · 2025 county yield 190.0 · irrigated and dryland combined · rent-per-bushel trend withheld: fewer than 6 dryland county yields in the last 15 years, and the all-practice yield is not a substitute: county yield mixes irrigated and dryland acres
Claims paid per $100 of coverage
$8.60
2016–2025, closed crop years
CO median $13.79 · 8th lowest of 31
Farmland rented
30%
2022 census, rented from others
CO median 30% · 29th lowest of 57
Open on the map Compare Printable sheet Colorado cash rent by county ARC or PLC for 2026 and 2027

Weld County is mostly irrigated. Sixty-four percent of harvested cropland gets water, and irrigated rent in 2026 is $202 per acre, eight times the non-irrigated rate of $25 per acre. That gap has widened since 2009, when irrigated rent was less than four times non-irrigated. Heat and drought claims have grown, rising from 7 percent of crop insurance indemnities in 1989-1999 to 44 percent in 2020-2025. Over the full record from 1989 through 2025, indemnities totaled $218.2 million, with hail at 30 percent of losses. Irrigation failure claims were $33.4 million. The county carries $302.9 MW of solar and $865.5 MW of wind in operation now.

Watch this county

Get an email when the published figures for Weld County, Colorado change. Usually once or twice a year. You confirm by email first, and every email has a one-tap stop. AGSIST, PO Box 243, Chetek, WI 54728.

Cash rent

$0$50$100$150$2002010201520202025$25$25 dry$114$202 irrigated

Dollars per acre, USDA NASS county survey. A break in a line is a year with no published survey.

Every published Colorado county rate, side by side: Colorado cash rent by county.

Non-irrigated, 2026$25/ac
Change 2016 to 2026−2.0%nominal, $26 to $25
Irrigated, 2026$202/ac
Pasture, 2026$10/ac

Insuring pasture or hay? See PRF rainfall insurance in Weld County: its grids, county values and record.

Rent as a share of corn gross, 201626.6%$26 non-irrigated rent 2016 ÷ (28.0 bu, 2016 county yield, dryland × $3.42 Colorado price received)

Share of gross is a past year, all observed: that year's rent, that year's county corn yield of the same practice and the state price received, USDA NASS. Rent per bushel uses this year's rent over the 14-yr trend. The calculator below starts from that trend and lets you put in your own yield and price.

Land value

Land and buildings, 2022$3,798/acoperators' own estimate, not a sale price
Census 2012$1,979/ac
Census 2017$2,586/ac
Change 2017 to 2022+46.9%+8.0% a year, nominal
Dry rent ÷ census valueAbout 64% of cropland is irrigated (2022 census), so dry rent over the all-land census value is not a yield on anything
Colorado cropland, 2026 state survey$2,960/ac+2.8% from 2025 · USDA NASS Land Values, state average
Colorado farm real estate, 2026$2,360/acland and buildings, state average
Colorado pasture, 2026$1,200/acstate average

The census value is this county's, from 2022. The survey figures are the Colorado average for 2026, from the USDA NASS Land Values report. NASS publishes that survey by state, not by county, so this page does not scale one into the other.

Corn yield

200820102012201420162018202020222024168.0211.2190.0median 175.8

Bushels per acre, USDA NASS county yields, all practices. The dashed line is the median of the published years.

Trend for rent per bushelFewer than 6 dryland county yields in the last 15 years, and the all-practice yield is not a substitute: county yield mixes irrigated and dryland acres
2025 county yield190.0 bu/acall practices
2021-25 average185.7 bu/ac5 published years, high and low dropped
Median, 2008–2025175.8 bu/ac17 published years, irrigated and dryland combined
Lowest published year2022: 129.5 bu/ac74% of median
Trend, 2008–2025+0.3 bu/ac a year±2.1 (95% interval)

Crop insurance record

198919941999200420092014201920240.882.340.811.00: claims equal premium

Claims paid divided by total premium (the farmer share plus the federal subsidy), each closed crop year since 1989. Above the dashed line, the county's insurance book paid out more than it took in. 2026, still open, is left out.

Claims paid per $100 of coverage, 2016–2025$8.60
Loss ratio, 2016–20250.70claims ÷ total premium
Loss ratio, 1989–20250.80$218.2 million paid
Years claims exceeded premium11 of 33
Worst year2002ratio 2.34
Largest causes of loss, 1989–2025hail 30% · heat and drought 27% · irrigation failure 15%share of dollars paid

Drought and weather

2000200520102015202020250370

Weeks per year, U.S. Drought Monitor, with half the county or more in D2 (severe) drought or worse.

D2 or worse for half the county, 2000–2025207 of 1,304 weeks16% of weeks
Year with the most D2+ weeks200237 weeks
Last five years, 2020–202573 weeks
July average of daily lows, 2017–202658.0 °F1991–2020 normal 57.3 °F
Trend in July lows since 1976+0.47 °F a decadewarming
Rain, April to September11.1 in1991–2020 normal; last ten years 93% of it
Days with hail 1 inch or larger8.4 a yearreports, 2010–2025; a zero is no report, not proof of no hail

Rain so far this year in Colorado, county by county

Land, water and programs

Harvested cropland irrigated, 202264%
Drained by tile, 20221% of cropland6,955 ac
Farmed no-till, 202218% of cropland159,193 ac
Cover crops, 20222% of cropland17,889 ac
198619911996200120062011201620216,347274,428250,442

Acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, USDA FSA, by fiscal year.

CRP enrolled, 2025250,442 ac37.9% of harvested cropland + CRP
CRP expiring FY2027–20291,155 ac1% of enrolled acres
CRP average rental payment, FY2025$23/acall contracts in force, old ones included; not today's offer
Solar and wind operating, 2025302.9 MW solar · 865.5 MW windnameplate, EIA Form 860
Cattle and calves, 2022545,480−6.3% since 2017
Farmland rented from others, 202230%census tenure, owned plus rented acres in farms

Next door

CountyDry rentIrr. rentLand valueCorn yieldClaims per $100
Weld County$25$202$3,798175.8$8.60
Adams County$20$146$2,91868.8$17.90
Boulder County$49 2025$97$18,310n/a$6.55
Broomfield Countyn/an/a$8,319n/an/a
Larimer County$29$195$6,276n/a$4.90
Logan County$37$234$2,141n/a$10.23
Morgan County$36$206$2,717n/a$11.19
Kimball County, NE$35$192$1,701n/a$11.54
Laramie County, WY$28$112 2025$2,003n/a$15.66
Median next door$32$194$2,81868.8 1 co.$11.19

Counties that share a stretch of boundary. An older rent carries its year and stays out of the median.

Cite this page

AGSIST Farmland Atlas. Weld County, Colorado. Figures as of 2026-10-14, from USDA NASS, USDA RMA, USDA FSA, the U.S. Drought Monitor and NOAA. https://agsist.com/farmland-atlas/colorado/weld-county
Every figure is a county average from the sources named below. Rent ranks count every county with a published rent in the same survey year, within the state (the same counties as the state rent page); other ranks count counties with 10,000 acres or more in farms. Methods: how each figure is built. Downloads: all counties, CSV.
Sources, dates and arithmetic

"Figures as of" is the date this page's numbers last changed; it moves only when a figure on the page does. Source files and their retrieval dates are listed on the data page.

Rent: USDA NASS Cash Rents Survey, county. Land value: Census of Agriculture, operators' estimate of land and buildings. Yield: NASS county corn yields, trend fitted here over every published year since 2008. Loss ratio: claims (indemnity) divided by total premium, USDA RMA Summary of Business, 1989 on, open crop year left out. Drought: U.S. Drought Monitor, weeks with half the county or more in D2 or worse. July lows: NOAA nClimDiv county monthly minimum temperature. A dash means the record does not carry the figure or the source withheld it; the reason is printed beside it.