For farmers in the land hunt, a potential bubble was barely a concern. Many said they needed to buy more land to expand their businesses so they can generate more income. And in this wobbly economy, they found safety in stashing their money in farmland.

“What’s a C.D. at the bank? Half a percent,” said Clark Wadle, who attended the auction. “What’s the stock market? Unstable. Whether land prices go up or they go down again, you still have the property.”

The winning bidder, Gaylord Jones of Eagle Grove, said that buying farmland was a way to invest on his own terms.

“I don’t buy stocks,” he said. “This way, I make my own damn mistakes.”

The worst drought in decades this summer seemed a distant memory here as about two dozen farmers escaped the cold and rain for the coffee-and-cookie-infused air inside the lodge where the auction was held.

In some cases, the drought has benefited farmers seeking land. Brent Kuehnast, who bought 190 acres this summer to add to the roughly 1,200 his family owns, said the drought helped him negotiate a below-market price on the property near his home in Humboldt, Iowa.

But the drought also caused some anxiety over his purchase.

On a recent afternoon, as his pickup truck bobbed like a vessel in choppy water over the dirt of his new plot, Mr. Kuehnast, 44, smiled when asked how often he inspected his new land, which he will start farming next year.

“All the time,” he said. “I like to find out where it needs to be improved.”

No state has benefited more from the farmland boom than Iowa.