Stalcup Agricultural Service expands with Midstates Farm Management purchase

A Storm Lake farm-management firm has widened its footprint across west-central Iowa, buying Midstates Farm Management from Midstates Bank in Council Bluffs and adding 11,000 acres to its books. The deal also brings 53 farm properties in 11 counties under Stalcup Agricultural Service, along with Steve Kock as manager of a new office in Avoca.

For Buena Vista County farmers, landowners and ag clients, the move matters because it deepens the role of a Storm Lake-based company that already sits close to the center of the area’s farm economy. Stalcup was founded in Storm Lake in 1942 by H.E. “Buck” Stalcup, and the business now says it employs 13 people and manages more than 100,000 acres of farmland. Adding Midstates raises the stakes for clients who depend on one firm for day-to-day farm management, leasing, custom farming, grain marketing, crop insurance, land stewardship consultation, real estate, auctions and appraisals.

The acquisition also points to a broader consolidation trend in farm management around Storm Lake and the surrounding region. By taking on accounts spread across 11 counties, Stalcup is not just growing in size but expanding its decision-making reach beyond Buena Vista County into a wider market. That could make the company more visible to absentee owners and farmland investors who want one manager handling multiple properties, while the new Avoca office makes the operation more local for owners and tenants in the southwest part of the region.

Stalcup describes itself as an employee-owned partnership, a structure it says keeps managers tied to the long-term performance of the business and the clients it serves. In a year when Iowa farmland values remain closely watched, the expansion comes as Iowa State University’s 2025 Farmland Value Survey continues to track county estimates based on Nov. 1, 2025 values, and the university’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development maintains an interactive portal for county land-value trends. For Buena Vista County, the takeaway is plain: one of Storm Lake’s long-running ag service companies is now handling more acres, more properties and more of the regional farm economy than before.