BARRON (WEAU) - Farmland in Wisconsin is a hot commodity. Sales nearly doubled in Barron County in 2010 compared to the year before and the land went for more money.

Experts say the sales and prices reflect a good agriculture economy. But while the rising prices are great for sellers, they are causing challenges for some buyers.

Acre after acre, production agriculture makes up about 2/3 of Barron County land.

"I think there's just an optimistic mood in agriculture right now,” Barron County UW-Extension Agriculture Agent Tim Jergenson said.

With high corn and soybean prices, the farming economy is going strong. As are farmland sales. In 2009, Agriculture Agent Tim Jergenson says there were 27 farmland sales in Barron County. In 2010, that number jumped significantly to 57 sales.

"This is farmland that is staying in agriculture. There's just not a lot of farmland being taken out of agriculture right now for development purposes," Jergenson explained.

The land is selling for more too: averaging $2,883 an acre.

"Farmland doesn't come up for sale very often, maybe once in a generation. Agriculture is seeing some good times right now and that reflects in the price of farmland. You have to expect that. But some of this has been a little fast and a little higher than what we anticipated and it’s a little scary,” Barron County Farmer Karyn Schauf said.

The sales mean good income for the sellers, but a challenge for others.

"It's very expensive for young farmers to get started. They have the machinery. They have the land that they have to either buy or rent and so that creates some barriers for them. However, for older farmers who are planning on retiring, their farmland is their 401K and they look at that as their retirements and so it helps that class of farmers," Jergenson explained.

Some local farmers fear rising prices are only benefitting big operations and may leave small farms and farming hopefuls feeling the strain.

"Some of these larger units put so much pressure on the land prices that the local people who are competing for the products off of that land, the corn, the silage, whatever it is, they are really being affected as well," Schauf said.

Jergenson says so far in 2011 there's been a lot of sales activity in Barron County so he anticipates farmland prices will continue to rise.