DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The value of Iowa farmland is up 32.5 percent from last year to a record of over $6,700 an acre. An annual survey by Iowa State University also shows the percentage increase breaks a 38-year-old record of 31 percent set in 1973. The survey released today (Wednesday) shows the average price rose from $5,064 an acre to $6,708 an acre from November 2010 to last month. Before this year the previous high average, adjusted for inflation, had been $5,770 per acre in 1979,

ISU economist Mike Duffy, who conducts the survey, says farmland values have surged along with the surge in commodity prices and farm incomes. O’Brien County in northwest Iowa has the highest average value at $9,513 an acre, up 33 percent.