Are Ag Boom Times Almost Over?

Des Moines Register:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week forecast a return to more normal corn surpluses of almost 2 billion bushels. The more ample supplies could drive down corn prices to as low as $4.20 per bushel by year’s end, compared with an average price of $6.20 in 2011, the USDA predicted.
If the forecast holds, the impact will ripple across Iowa’s economy. During the ag boom, farmers with cash to spend have bid up land prices and bought new tractors and combines. Deere & Co., seed companies and other manufacturers have added thousands of workers to meet demand.
“A reduction in corn prices will take away cash from the economy,” said state banking superintendent Jim Schipper, also a farm banker in Osceola.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey noted that a $2 per bushel reduction in the price of corn from the $6.20 average of 2011 would be about a $5 billion haircut. Farmers hauled in almost $15 billion from Iowa corn sales alone in 2011.
That $15 billion was larger than any private company in Iowa generated last year, save the $33 billion in sales from Deere, which needed production and sales in 90 countries to achieve that figure. Principal Financial Group oversees revenues of about $9 billion from its campus in downtown Des Moines.

If prices get down in the $4 range, we may see how much land was bought with cash versus debt in the past few years.  I'm still betting that these weren't cash purchases.