CSR2, or Corn Suitability Rating 2, is Iowa State University’s rating of how productive a soil is for row crops, on a scale from 5 to 100. A farm’s CSR2 is the acre-weighted average of the soils on it. To see what a point is worth, divide the price per acre by the CSR2. On our own recent northwest Iowa sales of 93.5 to 98 CSR2 ground, that came to $165 to $194 per point. On the rent side, Iowa State’s 2026 survey puts the northwest district at $3.41 per point.
CSR2 is the best single number we have for Iowa farmland. It is also where a good price starts, not where it ends.
Key takeaways
- CSR2 rates soil productivity from 5 to 100 and assumes drainage tile is in where the soil needs it.
- Price per CSR2 point is price per acre divided by CSR2. Our recent sales on 93.5 to 98 ground ran $165 to $194 a point.
- Two farms with the same 94.8 CSR2 sold $27 a point apart, about $2,600 an acre. The rating does not set the price.
- For rent, multiply your CSR2 by your county’s ISU rent per point. The northwest district average is $3.41 for 2026.
- Never compare an old CSR number to a CSR2. On one Clay County farm we sold, the old rating was 79 and the CSR2 was 94.8.
What is CSR2?
It is a soil productivity index built by Iowa State’s agronomy department. Iowa State introduced CSR2 in 2013 to replace the original Corn Suitability Rating from 1971, and the ratings run through USDA’s soil survey data.
The CSR2 equation starts each soil at 100 and subtracts for what holds it back: the soil’s classification, its texture, how much water it holds, field conditions like slope, flooding, ponding, and erosion, and its depth. A 100 is as good as Iowa dirt gets. A 5 is ground you would not plant.
Three assumptions matter more than the math. CSR2 assumes rain-fed crops with no irrigation, average management, and artificial drainage installed wherever the soil needs it. Keep that last one in mind. We will come back to it.
The original CSR had a rainfall adjustment built on 1931 to 1960 weather. CSR2 dropped it, and Iowa State noted the change pushed ratings significantly higher in northwest Iowa. That is why an old appraisal or plat book can show a number that looks nothing like today’s. The 75 acres we sold in Logan Township, Clay County, in March listed an average CSR of 79 and an average CSR2 of 94.8. Same dirt. Different yardstick.
How do you find your farm’s CSR2?
Three ways, from easiest to most work.
- Check any recent listing, appraisal, or soil report on the farm. Most list a weighted average CSR2 from a mapping service such as Surety or AgriData.
- Call your county assessor’s office. Iowa assessors use CSR2 in the formula behind agricultural assessments, so they have the soil data on your parcel.
- Pull it yourself from USDA’s Web Soil Survey. Draw your field boundary, and it reports the soil map units and their ratings.
Whichever route you take, ask one question: average of what? A CSR2 figured on 75 cropland acres and one figured on the whole 80-acre deed, waterway and building site included, are two different numbers. Buyers price the tillable acres. Make sure your number is on the same acres theirs is.
What is a CSR2 point worth when a farm sells?
Divide the price per acre by the CSR2. That is the method, and it is the only fair way to compare two farms that are not the same farm.
Here is what it looks like on our own recent sales, every one of them posted on our previously sold page:
- Cherokee County, Sheridan Township, December 2025. Tract 1, 94.8 CSR2 on Galva, Marcus, and Primghar soils, $18,200 an acre: $192 a point. Tract 2, 93.5 CSR2, $17,800: $190 a point.
- Clay County, Logan Township, March 2026. 94.8 CSR2, $15,600 an acre: $165 a point.
- O’Brien County, August 2026, sold in eight tracts. Tract 1, 98 CSR2, $19,000: $194 a point. Tract 2, 97.5 CSR2, $17,700: $182. Tract 3, 97.7 CSR2, $18,400: $188.
The Cherokee farm and the Clay farm carried the identical 94.8 rating, sold three months apart, and came in $27 a point apart. That is about $2,600 an acre. By the only rating we have, the Cherokee ground was not better dirt. It had the bidders.
On the O’Brien sale, tracts 1 and 2 sold the same afternoon to the same crowd, half a point of CSR2 apart, and $1,300 an acre apart. Half a point does not explain $1,300. Access, shape, and which neighbors wanted which tract did.
Price per point is the right way to line up comps, and it gets you into the right range fast. It will not tell you whether your farm brings the top of that range or the bottom. That comes from local buyers, and you only find them with a real sale and a real auction marketing push.
Our October 29 sale is in Center Township, O’Brien County, one of the townships in that August sale. Our November 11 sale is in Sheridan Township, Cherokee County, the same township as the farm above. Our November 18 sale is in Logan Township, Clay County. Each has a per-point comp sitting right here, so if you are watching the fall slate, you can compare against real numbers instead of a statewide table.
What is a CSR2 point worth in rent?
Iowa State does this math for you. The 2026 Cash Rental Rates for Iowa survey reports average rent per CSR2 point for every county. The northwest district average is $3.41. A few of our counties:
- Clay: $3.17 a point
- O’Brien: $3.28
- Buena Vista and Cherokee: $3.40
- Palo Alto: $3.41
- Dickinson: $2.95
- Emmet: $3.06
Multiply your farm’s CSR2 by your county’s figure. A 94.8 CSR2 farm in Clay County works out to about $301 an acre, against a Clay County average rent of $273. That gap is the difference between better-than-average ground and an average check. If your rent sits at the county average and your CSR2 is well above the county’s, the number is probably wrong.
ISU’s county rate is built from the county’s average rent divided by the county’s average row crop CSR2, which itself is figured on the county’s better-rated soils. Treat it as a quick check, not a lease clause. Our 2027 cash rent guide walks through the full method with yield history alongside CSR2.
Where does CSR2 get it wrong?
CSR2 rates the soil. It does not rate the farm. Four places that gap costs owners money:
Does tile change the CSR2?
No, and that is the trap. CSR2 assumes drainage is already in wherever the soil needs it. A poorly drained 90 CSR2 farm with no pattern tile is rated as if it were tiled, and it will not yield like one. Ask for the tile maps. A buyer will.
What about timber, waterways, and pasture?
A whole-farm average drags those acres in, and CSR2 does not capture what timber or recreation ground is worth at all. We covered that in what timber and recreation acres are worth.
Does CSR2 know my fertility?
No. Soil test levels for pH, phosphorus, and potash are a management result, not a soil property, and Iowa State lists fertility among the reasons a rent can run higher or lower than the county average. Two 92s can farm very differently after ten years of different landlords.
What about location?
Road access, field shape, distance to the elevator or ethanol plant, and who farms next door are all outside the formula. They are also usually what separates the top of the per-point range from the bottom.
How we use CSR2 at Midwest Land Management
Every farm we price starts with CSR2 and our own sale results, then gets walked. We pull the soils, the tile maps, the FSA records, and the yield history, and we compare per point against farms we actually sold in the same townships, not a statewide table. Our farm managers do the same thing on the rent side every year, so your rent tracks your ground instead of the county average. If you want to know what your CSR2 is worth today, sale or rent, that is a conversation we have every day out of the Spencer office.
FAQ
What is a good CSR2 in northwest Iowa?
Iowa State’s 2026 survey puts the northwest district’s average row crop CSR2 at 85, with counties ranging from 80 in Lyon to 94 in O’Brien. Anything in the 90s is top ground for this area. Compare your farm to your own county, since that is the market your buyers and tenants come from.
Is CSR2 the same as CSR?
No. CSR2 replaced the original CSR in 2013 with a different equation, and in northwest Iowa it usually reads higher. Do not compare an old CSR to a new CSR2, and make sure any comp you use reports CSR2.
Can my farm’s CSR2 change?
The rating follows the soil survey, not how the farm is run, so tiling, liming, or terracing will not change it. It can shift if Iowa State or USDA revises the equation or the soil maps, which happened once already when the equation was updated in 2015.
Does a higher CSR2 always mean a higher price?
Usually, not always. Our own sales show identical 94.8 ratings selling $2,600 an acre apart. CSR2 sets the range. Location, drainage, tract shape, and buyer demand decide where in that range a farm lands.
Want to know what your CSR2 is worth on today’s market? Request a free farm evaluation and we will price your farm against our own per-point comps, or call (712) 262-3110. If you would rather keep the farm and get the rent right, talk to our farm management team.