Live auction set for 239.91 acres of Morgan County farmland

Nearly 240 acres southeast of Waverly will test how much strength remains in Morgan County’s farm market and who still has the balance sheet to buy ground that rarely comes open. The 239.91-acre sale, spread across three tracts, will be offered as a live and online reserve auction with buyer’s choice bidding, a format that gives the winning bidder the first pick of the parcels while setting the tone for how far local land values can still be pushed.

Ranch and Farm Auctions has scheduled the sale for June 15 at 11:00 a.m. CT at the American Legion, 136 E. State St. in Waverly. The listing says the 2026 cash rent will be due to the buyers, an important detail for operators weighing immediate income against purchase price. All three tracts have road frontage, established field entrances and available power, features that make the property attractive both as working farmland and as a long-term hold in a county where productive acres are increasingly hard to assemble.

The strongest ground is concentrated in the first two tracts. Tract 1 includes 77.07 acres on the east side of Stuart Road, with Ipava and Virden soils making up more than 95% of the parcel and an average productivity index of 141. It sits about four miles from the elevator on a paved road. Tract 2 covers 82.84 acres, mostly Ipava and Sawmill soils, with a productivity index of more than 136. Together, tracts 1 and 2 hold 154 of the deeded 159.91 acres as cropland, or more than 96% cropland acres, underscoring how little non-productive ground is tied up in the sale.

That level of quality matters in a market where land values have softened from recent highs but still reward the best farms. Illinois Extension’s 2025 land-values report showed Sangamon County excellent land sales averaging $19,650 per acre with an average productivity index of 141.3. At the same time, Illinois cash rents edged down slightly in 2025, a sign that income expectations have cooled even as premier soil remains scarce. For Morgan County, where Waverly dates to 1836, is the county’s second-largest city and has nearly 1,200 residents, the auction will be watched not just as a price check but as a signal of who can still expand acreage near town and whether family operators, tenants or outside investors set the next benchmark for ground just southwest of Springfield.