Farmland Atlas · county record

Dawes County, Nebraska

Dawes County, NE: non-irrigated cash rent $35 an acre (2026); land and buildings $1,397 an acre in the 2022 census; median corn yield 109.0 bu/ac. County averages from public records, not an appraisal of any farm. FIPS 31045. Figures as of 2026-09-20.

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Cash rent, non-irrigated

$35/ac

2026 county average
NE median $141 · tied for 3rd lowest of 80

Cash rent, irrigated

$170/ac

2026 county average
NE median $272 · 4th lowest of 78

Land and buildings

$1,397/ac

2022: what operators guessed land and buildings were worth
NE median $4,499 · 13th lowest of 93

Corn yield, 2010–2020 median

109.0 bu/ac

8 published years · irrigated and dryland combined

Claims paid per $100 of coverage

$20.30

2016–2025, closed crop years
NE median $4.74 · highest of 90

Farmland rented

38%

2022 census, rented from others
NE median 49% · 17th lowest of 93

Cash rent

Dollars per acre, USDA NASS county survey. A break in a line is a year with no published survey; nothing is drawn across it.

Non-irrigated, 2026$35/ac

Change 2016 to 2026+50.0%nominal, $23 to $35

Irrigated, 2026$170/ac

Pasture, 2026$17/ac

Land value

Land and buildings, 2022$1,397/acoperators' own estimate, not a sale price

Census 2012$744/ac

Census 2017$889/ac

Change 2017 to 2022+57.1%+9.5% a year, nominal

Dry rent ÷ census value— NASS published no non-irrigated cash rent for this county in 2022

Corn yield

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

Median, 2010–2020109.0 bu/ac8 published years, irrigated and dryland combined

Lowest published year2013: 74.9 bu/ac69% of median

Crop insurance record

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$20.30

Loss ratio, 2016–20251.15claims ÷ total premium

Loss ratio, 1989–20251.05$25.8 million paid

Years claims exceeded premium6 of 10

Worst year2013ratio 2.18

Largest causes of loss, 1989–2025hail 35% · heat and drought 34% · freeze 12%share of dollars paid

Drought and weather

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, 2000–2025394 of 1,357 weeks29% of weeks

Year with the most D2+ weeks200752 weeks

Last five years, 2021–202572 weeks

July average of daily lows, 2017–202659.8 °F1991–2020 normal 58.4 °F

Trend in July lows since 1976+0.39 °F a decadeno clear direction

Rain, April to September13.6 in1991–2020 normal; last ten years 90% of it

Days with hail 1 inch or larger4.9 a yearreports, 2010–2025; a zero is no report, not proof of no hail

Land, water and programs

Harvested cropland irrigated, 2022— NASS suppressed the irrigated acres to protect individual farms

Drained by tile, 2022none reported

Farmed no-till, 202220% of cropland37,771 ac

Cover crops, 20221% of cropland2,545 ac

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

CRP enrolled, 2025107,872 ac49.1% of harvested cropland + CRP

CRP expiring FY2026–20281,499 ac1% of enrolled acres

CRP average rental payment, FY2025$13/acall contracts in force, old ones included; not today's offer

Irrigation wells in use (Nebraska register)86

Median well depth200 ft

Cattle and calves, 202267,843+11.4% since 2017

Farmland rented from others, 202238%census tenure, owned plus rented acres in farms

Next door

County	Dry rent	Irr. rent	Land value	Corn yield	Claims per $100
Dawes County	$35	$170	$1,397	—	$20.30
Box Butte County	$38	$203	$2,034	150.7	$8.52
Sheridan County	$36	$162	$1,394	151.4	$8.72
Sioux County	$24	$144	$1,283	168.7	$5.68
Fall River County, SD	$24	—	$1,082	—	$22.49
Oglala Lakota County, SD	$34 2024	—	$871	—	$27.55
Median next door	$30	$162	$1,283	151.4	$8.72

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. Dawes County, Nebraska. Figures as of 2026-09-20, from USDA NASS, USDA RMA, USDA FSA, the U.S. Drought Monitor and NOAA. https://agsist.com/farmland-atlas/nebraska/dawes-county

Every figure is a county average from the sources named below. Ranks count counties with 10,000 acres or more in farms, in the same survey year for rent, within the state. 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.

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