Jacksonville land broker Luke Worrell wins national REALTOR award

Luke Worrell’s latest national honor reaches well beyond a plaque in Jacksonville. The award puts a Morgan County land broker in the middle of the discussion over farmland values, rural transactions and the kind of acreage that keeps drawing attention across west-central Illinois.

Worrell Land Services said Worrell received the Land REALTOR of America Award on April 16, with the honor presented March 17 during the REALTORS Land Institute’s 2026 National Land Conference in San Antonio. RLI’s Leadership Awards are reserved for members whose work benefits fellow members, the profession and the community, and the Land REALTOR of America Award carries added weight because nominees must be Accredited Land Consultants who are active in both national RLI and their local chapter. Nominations are due by January 15 each year.

That puts Worrell in a narrow professional circle. RLI says he has been a member since 2009 and earned the ALC designation in 2012. His leadership record includes chairing the Education Committee and the Budget and Finance Committee, serving as treasurer, serving on the Board of Directors, leading the Illinois RLI chapter and then serving as the institute’s 2023 national president. In a 2024 RLI blog post, he also outlined the rigor behind the ALC credential, saying candidates need at least two years of land-sales experience and a minimum of 25 land transactions.

For Morgan County, the recognition matters because Worrell’s work sits inside a market that is bigger than one office in Jacksonville. RLI describes its members as specialists in farms, ranches, recreational land, timberland, development land, auctions, appraisals and land management, the same categories that shape prices and buyer demand across the county. When a broker with that reach is recognized nationally, it reinforces the visibility of local sellers trying to price acreage, farmers weighing expansion and investors looking at land as a long-term asset.

The award also extends a family business story that has been rooted in Jacksonville for decades. Worrell Land Services says the firm has helped landowners and buyers for more than 30 years. Allan Worrell moved to Jacksonville in 1980, started the company in 1995, served as president of the Illinois Chapter of RLI in 2003 and later was named the 2015 Illinois Farm & Land Broker of the Year.

Luke Worrell’s role is not limited to brokerage. Worrell Land Services says he chairs the Land Values & Lease Trends Committee for the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, and that he has been a public voice on Illinois farmland values, including the 2025 land values survey and the 2026 market outlook. For Morgan County landowners, that combination of brokerage, valuation and national leadership signals a Jacksonville professional who remains deeply tied to the market where rural property decisions are made.