An 82.75-acre Clay County farm sold for $15,800 per acre at public auction on June 17, 2026, with a local farm family as the buyer. The tract sits in Logan Township, about 3.25 miles south of Dickens, Iowa, and carries an average CSR2 of 95 with roughly 82.30 tillable acres. At that price the farm penciled to about $167.23 per tillable CSR2 point, a strong number for quality northwest Iowa ground. Midwest Land Management and Real Estate represented the King Trust on the sale, which drew both live bidders in the room at the Dickens Community Center and internet bidders, and stayed competitive to the final bid. Here is the full result, why a farm like this brings that kind of money, and what it means if you are weighing a sale of your own.
Key takeaways
- An 82.75-acre Logan Township farm near Dickens sold at auction for $15,800 per acre on June 17, 2026.
- The buyer was a local farm family. Midwest Land Management represented the seller, the King Trust.
- The farm averaged a CSR2 of 95 with about 82.30 tillable acres, which pencils to roughly $167.23 per tillable CSR2 point.
- The sale ran live and online at the same time and stayed competitive right to the close.
- High-CSR2, well-located Clay County ground is tightly held and does not come up often, which is exactly why it sells when it does.
If you own farmland in Clay County or anywhere across northwest Iowa, a result like this matters to you, whether you are thinking about selling, settling an estate, or just trying to know what your ground is worth. One clean sale of a high-quality tract tells you more about today’s market than any statewide average. Here is the whole picture on this one.
What sold in Clay County, and for how much?
The farm was 82.75 surveyed acres in Logan Township, about 3.25 miles south of Dickens, in a strong farming area of Clay County. We held the auction on June 17, 2026, at the Dickens Community Center, representing the King Trust. Zach Anderson handled the sale for our team.
It sold for $15,800 per acre to a local farm family, which is always good to see ground stay in the neighborhood. The auction ran live in the room and online at the same time, so the bidding pulled from both the farmers who showed up in person and buyers watching from a screen. After a few breaks in the bid calling, it closed competitive. That is what you want on a quality tract: a full room, an active internet, and bidders who push each other to the last increment.
Why did this farm bring $15,800 an acre?
Three things did the heavy lifting: soil, layout, and scarcity.
First, the dirt. The farm averaged a CSR2 of 95. On Iowa’s scale that is top-tier ground (more on what CSR2 means below). Second, the layout. With about 82.30 tillable acres out of 82.75 surveyed, this is a nearly all-tillable tract with almost no waste, so a buyer is paying for productive cropland rather than road ditch and odd corners. Third, scarcity. Quality Clay County ground is tightly held. Farm families hold these tracts for generations, so when a high-CSR2 farm comes up in a good neighborhood, the local operators who have wanted it for years finally get their shot, and they show up ready to bid.
Put those together and the result is not a surprise. A nearly all-tillable CSR2 95 tract with real local demand is exactly the kind of farm that brings a top number when it is marketed to the full pool of buyers instead of quietly shopped to one neighbor.
What does $167.23 per CSR2 point tell you?
CSR2, the Corn Suitability Rating, is Iowa’s index of how productive a soil is for row crops, scaled from 5 to 100. Higher is better, and anything in the 90s is excellent northwest Iowa cropland. Because farms differ in soil quality, buyers do not just compare price per acre. They compare price per CSR2 point, which puts a strong farm and a weaker one on the same footing.
Here is the math on this sale. At $15,800 per acre across the 82.75 surveyed acres, the farm brought about $1,307,450. Spread that over the tillable CSR2 (82.30 tillable acres times a CSR2 of 95, or 7,818.5 points) and you land at $167.23 per tillable CSR2 point. That is a strong figure for the area.
The lesson for a landowner: on high-quality ground, buyers bid the points, not just the acres. If you do not know your farm’s CSR2 before you go to sell, you are walking into the decision half blind. We pull it on every farm we evaluate.
What this sale says about the northwest Iowa land market
One clean, well-marketed sale of a quality tract is a real signal, and this one says quality Clay County farmland still brings strong interest from both local farm families and outside investors when it is presented to the market the right way. Productive ground here is a tightly held asset. It does not come available often, and the final number reflected that.
One sale is a data point, not a trend. The way to actually read the market is to stack real, recent, comparable sales next to each other, which is what our land values database of previous sales is for. A single headline price does not tell you what your farm is worth. A pile of honest local comps does.
Thinking about selling your own farm?
The method matters, and we will give you the straight answer on which one fits your ground. Auction is not always right. For some farms, a private treaty listing is the better play. But for a tightly held, high-CSR2 tract with clean title and real buyer demand, a well-run auction that puts live and online bidders in the same race is hard to beat, and this Clay County sale is a clean example of why.
Where a lot of money gets left on the table is the other direction: a CSR2 95 farm priced by a generalist who has never called a bid, or quietly rented to the same neighbor on a handshake for another decade. We price from a local comp database, not a guess, and we market the farm hard to the full pool of buyers. If you want to know what your ground would bring today, start with a free, no-obligation farm evaluation. Land is our business, and we do this in your backyard every week.
Frequently asked questions
How much did the Clay County farm sell for?
It sold for $15,800 per acre. The tract was 82.75 surveyed acres in Logan Township, about 3.25 miles south of Dickens, and it sold to a local farm family at auction on June 17, 2026.
What counts as a good CSR2, and why does a 95 matter?
CSR2 runs from 5 to 100, and ground above the low 80s is considered high quality. A 95 on a nearly all-tillable farm is top-tier northwest Iowa cropland, which is a big part of why this tract drew competitive bidding from start to finish.
What does “$167.23 per CSR2 point” actually mean?
It is the sale price spread across the farm’s tillable CSR2, calculated as tillable acres times the CSR2 rating. Buyers use price per CSR2 point to compare farms of different soil quality on an equal footing, rather than just looking at price per acre.
Is an auction the best way to sell my farm?
Sometimes. For a tightly held, high-CSR2 tract with real demand, an auction that runs live and online at once is tough to beat. For other farms, a private treaty listing fits better. The honest answer depends on the ground, the title, and the buyer pool, and we will tell you which one we would recommend for your farm.
Where can I see other recent farm sales in the area?
Our previously sold page tracks recent results, and you can join our land notifications list to get upcoming auctions, listings, and sale results by email.
If you own ground in Clay County or anywhere across northwest Iowa and you want to know what it would bring in today’s market, get a free farm evaluation or contact our Spencer team. If you want top dollar for your farm, bring it to us.