Harlan County, Nebraska
Harlan County, NE: non-irrigated cash rent $117 an acre (2026); land and buildings $3,530 an acre in the 2022 census. Bids, weather, crops, land and programs for one county. County averages from public records, not an appraisal of any farm. FIPS 31083. Figures as of Oct 19, 2026; the rows marked with a date load the newest reading when the page opens.
Stands out against its own record
Non-irrigated cash rent, 2026: the highest of 15 surveys since 2009; up 42% from $83 in 2016.
USDA NASS Cash Rents Survey, 2026
With half the county or more in severe drought (D2) or worse in 2026 so far, the most since 2013 (53 weeks).
U.S. Drought Monitor weekly maps, 2000 to 2026 (40 maps this year)
NE median $141 · tied for 30th lowest of 80
NE median $272 · 28th lowest of 78
NE median $4,499 · 40th lowest of 93
NE median $4.74 · 27th highest of 90
NE median 49% · 38th lowest of 93
Two-fifths of Harlan County's cropland is irrigated, and that dependence comes with risk. Heat and drought have driven crop insurance claims hard. They went from 19 percent of indemnities in 1989-1999 to 61 percent in 2000-2009 and stayed high through 2010-2019 at 65 percent. Corn yields have climbed 1.7 bushels per acre a year on fitted trend over 2008-2025, with a median of 175.4 bushels per acre, though the worst year was 2013 at 133.6. Non-irrigated cash rent is $117 per acre in 2026, up 41.8 percent from 2016. Most irrigation water comes from groundwater, 93 percent, and 1,150 irrigation wells have no decommission date on record.
Grain and prices within 50 miles
Bids are posted elevator prices within 50 miles of the county middle, or of your own field or saved place in this county when this device has one (each row says which), best and nearest, never a buyer's name. Not a contract; call before you haul. Livestock lines show where the 2022 Census counts 1,000 head or more: milk for milk cows, feeder cattle for beef cows, live cattle for cattle on feed, hogs for hogs, hay for all cattle.
Nebraska cash bids by town · Bids from your own ZIP or farm, in Fast Facts
Cash bids by town near the middle of Harlan County: Alma (5 mi), Republican City (10 mi), Ragan (11 mi).
Nearby buyers within 50 miles: 4 ethanol plants
Straight-line miles from the middle of Harlan County to each buyer’s town point (the middle of its town, not the gate), rounded. Capacity as published. Where the buyers are, not what they pay. Lists from Renewable Fuels Association, EIA, read Oct 28, 2026.
Weather and the season
Rain so far this year in Harlan County, Nebraska
Drought, year by year
Weeks per year, U.S. Drought Monitor, with half the county or more in D2 (severe) drought or worse.
Crops
Corn yield
Bushels per acre, USDA NASS county yields, all practices. The dashed line is the median of the published years.
Land rent, value, sales
Cash rent
Dollars per acre, USDA NASS county survey. A break in a line is a year with no published survey.
Every published Nebraska county rate, side by side: Nebraska cash rent by county.
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 is withheld here: it needs the county trend, and the trend is withheld (see the corn yield section). The calculator below takes your own yield and price.
Land value
The census value is this county's, from 2022. The survey figures are the Nebraska 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.
Newer local survey: Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey, 2026 final, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, released Jun 30, 2026: land values and cash rents by district and land class. Their numbers, on their page; this page does not copy them.
Programs and risk
Benchmarks, payments and the choice for each crop: ARC or PLC in Harlan County.
Insuring pasture or hay? PRF rainfall insurance for pasture and hay in Harlan County: its grids, county values and record are on the county PRF page.
Crop insurance record
Claims paid divided by total premium (the farmer share plus the federal subsidy), each closed crop year since 1996 with at least $1,000,000 of premium; a year under that has no bar and no ratio. Above the dashed line, the county's insurance book paid out more than it took in. 2026, still open, is left out.
Conservation Reserve Program
Acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, USDA FSA, by fiscal year.
What farms here look like
USDA Census of Agriculture 2022, except wells (state well register) and power (EIA Form 860).
Next door
| County | Dry rent | Irr. rent | Land value | Corn yield, median | Claims per $100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harlan County | $117 | $249 | $3,530 | 175.4 | $6.75 |
| Norton County, KS | $55 | $178 2023 | $1,785 | n/a | $19.34 |
| Phillips County, KS | $58 | n/a | $1,912 | n/a | $11.57 |
| Franklin County | $115 | $284 | $4,265 | 182.5 | $4.94 |
| Furnas County | $88 | $235 | $2,895 | 136.1 | $12.94 |
| Phelps County | $135 | $313 | $5,776 | 216.9 | $2.86 |
| Median next door | $88 | $284 | $2,895 | 182.5 | $11.57 |
Counties that share a stretch of boundary. A rent from an older survey year carries its year and stays out of the median; one more than three survey years old shows n/a. The corn median here needs 15 published years, so a county with fewer shows n/a even where its own page gives a median.
Not on this page yet
- This year's growing degree days and first fall freeze for the county. The normals above are here; the current year is not yet.
- County crop condition and harvest pace. USDA publishes them by state, not by county, so the state line stands in.
- Recorded farm sale prices. We read county deed records for Illinois and Wisconsin so far, not Nebraska.
- Number of farms and farm size, from the 2022 Census of Agriculture county tables.
- Soils, slope, wetlands and flood zones for one field. Those load at the field in Field Scout, not on a county page.
Cite this page
AGSIST Farmland Atlas. Harlan County, Nebraska. Figures as of Oct 19, 2026, from USDA NASS, USDA RMA, USDA FSA, the U.S. Drought Monitor and NOAA. https://agsist.com/farmland-atlas/nebraska/harlan-countyEvery 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.
This product uses the NASS API but is not endorsed or certified by NASS. Averages, trends, ranks and estimates are calculations by AGSIST.
Rent: USDA NASS Cash Rents Survey, county. Land value: Census of Agriculture, operators' estimate of land and buildings. Yield: NASS county corn yields. The headline trend, the one rent per bushel uses, is fitted here over the published years in the 15 years ending this year; the yearly trend card uses 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. Claims paid per $100 of coverage: claims divided by liability (the insured value), times 100, same source. 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 missing figure is named with its reason (in a table it reads n/a).