The Impacts of Business Cycles on Returns to Farmland Investments

Abstract

AbstractExpected performance and valuation of investments in farmland are examined in relation to prevailing business cycle conditions over a period that includes both the 1970s farm boom and 1980s farm recession. Information on risk premia in debt, equity, and land markets are shown to significantly affect conditional expected returns to farmland and, consequently, farmland values. Further, conditional expected land returns diverge significantly in some years from returns conditionally required on the basis of systematic risk. Overall implications are that expected land returns are dependent not only on local sector conditions but also on time‐varying macroeconomic conditions related to business cycles.