LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) _ The value of Nebraska farmland jumped 31
percent on average last year.

     The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Institute of Agriculture
and Natural Resources says the average value of farmland statewide
has reached $2,410 per acre.

     Ag economist Bruce Johnson says he expects farmland values will
begin to cool off sometime in the next few years, but it's hard to
predict when that will happen.

     There is wide variation in land prices across the state. For
example, an acre of irrigated land in northwest Nebraska is worth
$2,600 per acre but an irrigated acre in eastern Nebraska closer to
the Iowa state line is worth about $8,000.