County farm facts

Mercer County, New Jersey

Sales through Jun 30, 2026

Sold for
$17,123/ac
Middle of 8 bare farmland sales of 20+ acres, Jul 2024 to Jun 2026. Middle half $13,314 to $20,819.

Newest sales town, not parcel

Rent$55/ac NASS 2026, county average
Nearest bid
Rain

Recorded prices. Not an appraisal. No adjustments. A recorded price is what the state's transfer record says was paid once the sale closed, auction or private; never an asking price.

Sales: New Jersey Division of Taxation, SR-1A deed abstracts with acres from the MOD-IV 2026 assessment list, farm lots (classes 3A and 3B). Rent: USDA NASS.

Mercer County, NJ: non-irrigated cash rent $55 an acre (2026); land and buildings $26,811 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 34021. Figures as of Nov 5, 2026; the rows marked with a date load the newest reading when the page opens.

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As of Oct 16, cash rent in Mercer County runs $55 an acre for 2026, the 2nd lowest of 10 in New Jersey and under the state median of $84. The census value of land and buildings tells a different story at $26,811 an acre in 2022, 3rd highest of 13 in the state. That figure climbed 48.0% from $18,114 in 2017, 8.2% a year. Renters work 44% of the county's farmland.

Cash rent, non-irrigated
$55/ac
2026 county average
NJ median $84 · 2nd lowest of 10
Cash rent, irrigated
$297/ac
2024 county average
too few 2024 county surveys in the state to compare
Land and buildings
$26,811/ac
2022: operators' own estimate of what land and buildings were worth · NJ farm real estate 2026: $17,000 (land and buildings, state survey)
NJ median $14,983 · 3rd highest of 13
Corn yield
n/a
county yield mixes irrigated and dryland acres
Claims paid per $100 of coverage
$9.12
2016–2025, closed crop years
NJ median $8.47 · 5th highest of 12
Farmland rented
44%
2022 census, rented from others
NJ median 32% · highest of 13
Median sale price, bare land, 20+ acres
n/a
not shown: 2 recorded bare farmland sales of 20+ acres in Jul 2025 to Jun 2026, a median needs 5; sales dated through Jun 30, 2026
Open on the map Compare New Jersey cash rent by county

Grain and prices within 50 miles

Corn bid
Soybean bid
Corn basis
Soybean basis
Corn futures
Soybean futures

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.

Bids from your own ZIP or farm, in Fast Facts

Weather and the season

Rain since Jan 1
Drought this week
Hail, last 30 days

Rain so far this year in Mercer County, New Jersey

Drought, year by year

2000200520102015202020250303

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, 2000–202547 of 1,357 weeks3% of weeks
Year with the most D2+ weeks200230 weeks
Last five full years, 2021–202512 weeks
2026 so far4 weekshalf the county or more in D2, 40 weekly maps
July average of daily lows, 2017–202667.0 °F1991–2020 normal 65.3 °F
Trend in July lows since 1976+0.83 °F a decadewarming
Rain, April to September, usual25.4 in1991–2020 county normal, NOAA; the 2017–2026 seasons averaged 26.2 in
Days with hail 1 inch or larger0.4 a yearreports, 2010–2025; a zero is no report, not proof of no hail
Last spring freeze, first fall freezeApr 11, Oct 31middle dates 1996–2025, NOAA county-average daily low of 32 °F or colder
Frost-free days203middle of 1996–2025
Corn growing degree days, May to September3,064middle of 1996–2025; 2016–2025 averaged 3,128

Crops

Corn harvested
Soybeans harvested

Corn yield

200820092010201120122013201420152016126.082.1120.8150.8149.2median 128.8

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
Median, 2008–2016128.8 bu/ac9 published years
Lowest published year2010: 82.1 bu/ac64% of median

Land rent, value, sales

Cash rent

$0$50$100$150$200$250$300202120222023202420252026$74$55 dry$156$297 irrigated

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

Every published New Jersey county rate, side by side: New Jersey cash rent by county.

Non-irrigated, 2026$55/ac
Irrigated, 2024$297/ac

Land value

Land and buildings, 2022$26,811/acoperators' own estimate, not a sale price
Census 2012$20,310/ac
Census 2017$18,114/ac
Change 2017 to 2022+48.0%+8.2% a year, nominal
Dry cropland rent ÷ census value, 20220.25%$67 ÷ $26,811; cropland 70% of land in farms
New Jersey cropland, 2026 state survey$17,100/ac+2.4% from 2025 · USDA NASS Land Values, state average
New Jersey farm real estate, 2026$17,000/acland and buildings, state average
New Jersey pasture, 2026$15,600/acstate average

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

Recorded farm sales

Sale counts and the median price buyers paid per acre in Mercer County, from New Jersey SR-1A deed abstracts with the MOD-IV assessment list (New Jersey Division of Taxation), load here.

Land sales: Recorded sales in Mercer County, sale by sale.

Programs and risk

ARC or PLC sign-up

Benchmarks, payments and the choice for each crop: ARC or PLC in Mercer County.

PRF rainfall insurance for pasture and hay in Mercer 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 1989 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.

Claims paid per $100 of coverage, 2016–2025$9.12
Loss ratio, 2016–20251.01claims ÷ total premium
Loss ratio, 1989–20250.70$3.0 million paid
Largest causes of loss, 1989–2025heat and drought 80% · excess moisture 12% · other 3%share of dollars paid

Conservation Reserve Program

1986199119962001200620112016202109822

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

CRP enrolled, 202522 ac
CRP expiring FY2027–20290 ac0% of enrolled acres

What farms here look like

Harvested cropland irrigated, 20226%
Drained by tile, 20229% of cropland1,188 ac
Farmed no-till, 202230% of cropland3,929 ac
Cover crops, 20226% of cropland739 ac
Solar and wind operating, 202577.3 MW solar · 0 MW windnameplate, EIA Form 860
Cattle and calves, 2022632−22.1% since 2017
Hogs and pigs, 2022355head, Census of Agriculture
Farmland rented from others, 202244%census tenure, owned plus rented acres in farms

USDA Census of Agriculture 2022, except wells (state well register) and power (EIA Form 860).

Watch this county

Get an email when the published figures for Mercer County, New Jersey 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.

Next door

CountyDry rentIrr. rentLand valueCorn yield, medianClaims per $100
Mercer County$55$297 2024$26,811n/a$9.12
Burlington County$79$160$12,875n/a$8.16
Hunterdon County$66n/a$17,886n/a$10.14
Middlesex County$71n/a$26,828n/a$5.84
Monmouth County$101$158$25,361n/a$8.77
Somerset County$35n/a$21,660n/a$13.39
Bucks County, PA$45$195 2024$15,277113.3$6.11
Median next door$68$159 2 co.$19,773113.3 1 co.$8.47

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.

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Cite this page

AGSIST Farmland Atlas. Mercer County, New Jersey. Figures as of Nov 5, 2026, from USDA NASS, USDA RMA, USDA FSA, the U.S. Drought Monitor and NOAA. https://agsist.com/farmland-atlas/new-jersey/mercer-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.

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).