Peoples Company adds Sterling-based land agent Ben Gardiner

A Sterling-based land agent is the latest sign that Logan County remains a serious market for farm and ranch transactions, with Ben Gardiner joining Peoples Company’s brokerage and auctions division to work closer to the people who may sell, appraise or bid on land here.

Gardiner’s placement matters because Logan County is not a small or sleepy ag county. USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 901 farms here covering 1,126,091 acres, with an average farm size of 1,250 acres. The county’s market value of agricultural products sold reached $732.734 million, and livestock, poultry and products accounted for 84% of that total, compared with 16% from crops. The county also had 91,154 irrigated acres, 255 farms of 1,000 acres or more and 291 farms with at least $100,000 in sales.

That scale helps explain why a land broker with regional reach can matter on the ground in Sterling, where local land deals often hinge on timing, valuation, financing and competition among neighbors, investors and producers. Estate settlements, farmland sales, auctions and energy-related transactions can all turn on whether the right professional is close enough to know the ground and broad enough to reach buyers across state lines.

Gardiner brings nearly 20 years in agricultural real estate. He began his career in 2007 as an appraiser with the Farm Credit System and later worked as an associate broker with Reck Agri Realty & Auction. He holds Certified General Appraiser licenses in Colorado and Nebraska and the Accredited Rural Appraiser designation from the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. He is also licensed in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, positioning him to work across a market that stretches from northeastern Colorado into western Nebraska and beyond.

Since 2020, Gardiner has transacted more than 75,000 acres valued at more than $170 million across eastern Colorado and western Nebraska, according to his company biography. He grew up on his family’s farm near Peetz, remains involved in that operation and lives near Sterling with his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children.

Peoples Company said the hire fits its push in Colorado and western Nebraska. The firm traces its roots to the 1960s, when it originated from Peoples Trust and Savings Bank in Indianola, Iowa, and now bills itself as a national farmland company with more than 50 years of history. For Logan County landowners, the practical effect is simple: more local access to a specialist who already knows the regional market where large-acre farms, irrigated ground and high-value livestock operations still set the pace.