The Impact of Ethanol Plants on Surrounding Farmland Values: A Case Study

The expansion of the corn ethanol industry after 2003 increased corn prices throughout the United States, and, in some cases, prices were shown to be higher with proximity to individual ethanol plants. This leads to the hypothesis that the value of farmland in close proximity to ethanol plants is higher than comparable farmland located farther away. This hypothesis was explored by examining the sale of 961 farmland parcels during 2004–2008, in the vicinity of two corn ethanol plants in northeastern Nebraska. Hedonic models including land characteristics as well as spatial and plant proximity measures failed to show support for the hypothesis.