Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Following the announcement of an anticipated increase in Eddy County land values, the Eddy County Soils Committee approved a 5 percent increase in cropland and a 2 percent increase in non-cropland valuation for 2023.
Back in December, The N.D. State Tax Department announced the 2023 average value per acre for all agricultural land in Eddy County to be $628.41 an acre. This time last year, that number was $598.66 - an increase of 4.73 percent.
Similar increases were fairly common throughout the area. Foster County saw an increase of 6.34 percent (from $828.33 to $884.44), while Benson County saw an increase of 3.28 percent (from $757.63 to $783.30) and Griggs County an increase of 6.67 percent (from $739.60 to $792.46).
North Dakota State Tax Commissioner, Brain Kroshus, is required by century code to provide estimates of agricultural value per acre on a statewide and countywide basis every year.
“The average estimated agricultural value per acre of agricultural lands in the state for the year 2023 is $706.63,” stated Kroshus in his December assessment. That’s up from 2022 when it was $661.07.
These estimates were computed by the Agribusiness and Applied Economics Department of North Dakota State University, and also included in the estimates are the values for cropland and non-cropland per acre.
In Eddy County, the estimated cropland value per acre for 2023 is $835.61, an increase of $40.93 over last year’s valuation of $794.68.
The new estimate for Foster County is $1,037.26, an increase of 6.52 percent, and in Wells County it’s $1,052.12, an increase of 4.6 percent over last year.
Meanwhile, the estimated non-cropland value in Eddy County has bumped up only slightly, from $187.96 to $191.27. And once again, similar increases were estimated throughout the area.
In Foster County the new estimate is $184.20, up from $180.79, and in Griggs County the non-cropland value increased from $184.26 to $187.74.
Eddy County Tax Equalization Director, Kristy O’Connor, said the increased values are determined by a number of factors, including production data, the cost of production index and the capitalization rate. She also noted that the non-cropland values increase as the price of calves and cull cows increase.
Agland is valued, according to O’Connor, by breaking down each parcel of land into cropland and non-cropland. Each parcel also has various soil types which have a “productivity index,” and the higher that index, the better the soil is and therefore a higher value is applied.
O’Connor also noted that an increase in valuation does not mean an increase in taxes.