Farmland Atlas · county record

Elkhart County, Indiana

Elkhart County, IN: non-irrigated cash rent $230 an acre (2026); land and buildings $11,769 an acre in the 2022 census. County averages from public records, not an appraisal of any farm. FIPS 18039. Figures as of 2026-10-14.

Cash rent, non-irrigated
$230/ac
2026 county average
IN median $217 · tied for 31st highest of 89
Cash rent, irrigated
$307/ac
2026 county average
IN median $276 · 2nd highest of 14
Land and buildings
$11,769/ac
2022: what operators guessed land and buildings were worth · IN cropland 2026: $8,600 (state survey)
IN median $8,158 · 2nd highest of 89
Corn yield, 2020-24 average
180.0 bu/ac
high and low dropped · 2024 county yield 179.3 · irrigated and dryland combined · rent-per-bushel trend withheld: county yield mixes irrigated and dryland acres
Claims paid per $100 of coverage
$2.15
2016–2025, closed crop years
IN median $2.54 · 38th lowest of 92
Farmland rented
45%
2022 census, rented from others
IN median 51% · 28th lowest of 92
Open on the map Compare Printable sheet Indiana cash rent by county ARC or PLC for 2026 and 2027
Watch this county

Get an email when the published figures for Elkhart County, Indiana 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$200$250$3002010201520202025$115$230 dry$160$307 irrigated

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

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

Non-irrigated, 2026$230/ac
Change 2016 to 2026+43.8%nominal, $160 to $230
Irrigated, 2026$307/ac
Pasture, 2026$43/ac

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

Rent as a share of corn grossCounty yield mixes irrigated and dryland acres (2024)

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$11,769/acoperators' own estimate, not a sale price
Census 2012$8,067/ac
Census 2017$11,178/ac
Change 2017 to 2022+5.3%+1.0% a year, nominal
Dry rent ÷ census valueAbout 20% of cropland is irrigated (2022 census), so dry rent over the all-land census value is not a yield on anything
Indiana cropland, 2026 state survey$8,600/ac+4.2% from 2025 · USDA NASS Land Values, state average
Indiana farm real estate, 2026$9,150/acland and buildings, state average
Indiana pasture, 2026$2,850/acstate average

The census value is this county's, from 2022. The survey figures are the Indiana 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

200820102012201420162018202020222024141.0200.4179.3median 173.2

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

Trend for rent per bushelCounty yield mixes irrigated and dryland acres
2024 county yield179.3 bu/acall practices
2020-24 average180.0 bu/ac5 published years, high and low dropped
Median, 2008–2024173.2 bu/ac16 published years, irrigated and dryland combined
Lowest published year2012: 92.5 bu/ac53% of median
Trend, 2008–2024+2.7 bu/ac a year±2.3 (95% interval)

Crop insurance record

200520102015202020250.193.530.111.00: 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$2.15
Loss ratio, 2016–20250.36claims ÷ total premium
Loss ratio, 1989–20250.55$25.2 million paid
Years claims exceeded premium3 of 21
Worst year2012ratio 3.53
Largest causes of loss, 1989–2025area plans 36% · heat and drought 29% · other 14%share of dollars paid

Drought and weather

200020052010201520202025160

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, 2000–202550 of 1,304 weeks4% of weeks
Year with the most D2+ weeks200016 weeks
Last five years, 2020–20253 weeks
July average of daily lows, 2017–202662.8 °F1991–2020 normal 61.7 °F
Trend in July lows since 1976+0.30 °F a decadeno clear direction
Rain, April to September23.0 in1991–2020 normal; last ten years 96% of it
Days with hail 1 inch or larger0.9 a yearreports, 2010–2025; a zero is no report, not proof of no hail

Rain so far this year in Indiana, county by county

Land, water and programs

Harvested cropland irrigated, 202220%
Drained by tile, 202243% of cropland71,777 ac
Farmed no-till, 202228% of cropland47,110 ac
Cover crops, 20229% of cropland14,731 ac
198619911996200120062011201620218808342

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

CRP enrolled, 2025342 ac0.2% of harvested cropland + CRP
CRP expiring FY2027–202971 ac21% of enrolled acres
CRP average rental payment, FY2025$224/acall contracts in force, old ones included; not today's offer
Solar and wind operating, 20251.5 MW solar · 0 MW windnameplate, EIA Form 860
Cattle and calves, 202247,166−20.2% since 2017
Farmland rented from others, 202245%census tenure, owned plus rented acres in farms

Next door

CountyDry rentIrr. rentLand valueCorn yieldClaims per $100
Elkhart County$230$307$11,769173.2$2.15
Kosciusko County$219$284 2025$8,605173.2$1.35
LaGrange County$159$274$14,455142.8$1.79
Marshall County$219$210$7,190172.2$2.00
Noble County$190$233$9,064169.8$1.64
St. Joseph County$196$312$8,309161.9$3.03
Cass County, MI$126$280$5,984158.8$3.83
St. Joseph County, MI$131$321$7,367142.7$1.90
Median next door$190$277$8,309161.9$1.90

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. Elkhart County, Indiana. 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/indiana/elkhart-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.