Des Moines Register: Higher corn and soybean prices and improved profits have helped drive Iowa farmland values up 21% this year, the second-largest increase in the nation, a new U.S. Department of Agriculture report shows. Only Kansas farmland values grew faster, at 25%. The agriculture department uses farm surveys conducted in June to calculate values for the year. Iowa’s farmland averaged $9,400 an acre this year, the highest price in the Midwest, with Illinois following at $8,900 an acre, and Indiana at $8,000, the USDA report shows. Kansas farmland averaged $2,630 an acre. Some of Iowa’s best farmland has pushed over $25,000 an acre in recent northwest Iowa auctions.