Showcase
Showcase
Showcase 02 · Farm belt — land funds & agricultural investors
Story County — analyzed at 1 km · Hamilton · Hardin — the wider Ames corridor
Farmland is priced on yield history and comps — which works inside a market and breaks the moment you compare two. Arcanium reads what sits under the yield: soil productivity, water reach and flow, road access to elevators, population trajectory, governance — scored per square kilometer on one absolute scale, so an Iowa quarter section and a Costa Rican canton rank directly against each other. Story County has been analyzed end to end; it and the rest of the corridor are a commission away.
The band above is the Arcanium ramp — red is weak ground, green is strong. In the analysis every tile in Story County takes its color from its Index score, fitted 41.9–63.1 here.
| Utility territory | ¢ / kWh | |
|---|---|---|
| City of Ames Electric Services | 12.10 | |
| Midland Power Cooperative | 13.60 | |
| Consumers Energy Cooperative | 15.00 | |
| Area range — three territories priced | 12.10–15.00 |
Residential average by territory, 2024. Three territories reach this ground, and every square kilometer of it carries one of them; territories without a usable rate stay unpriced rather than guessed.
Which square kilometers combine the strongest soil-productivity signal with real water access — and which of them sit close enough to the road network that the ground's value survives its logistics. Story County answers it today; Hamilton, Hardin and any other county answer it on commission, on the same scale.
Every tile carries a confidence rating that falls wherever a value was broadcast from a coarser unit than the tile itself — water measured rather than assumed, soil signal read at fine grain. A number you can defend to an investment committee.
Every value carries a confidence rating that falls when a number was broadcast from a coarser unit than the tile — the dossier states it per variable, per tile.
Measured, deliberately not scored: ECI — the residential ¢/kWh of the utility that actually serves the tile. It is reported beside the Index and never blended into it, because the right power price for a data center and for a grain dryer are not the same number, and a weight would decide that for you. The residential rate is the one class every utility files on the same basis, which is what makes two territories comparable.
Story County has been analyzed; the rest of the corridor has not, and no score on this sheet is invented to pretend otherwise. Hamilton, Hardin and their neighbours are produced when the analysis is commissioned — drawn on the map, priced by area before it runs, delivered by email when ready. The Index is a transparent blend of measured fundamentals: it is not an appraisal, and it does not know your business case.
Story County is scored. Name the county you actually care about and it is scored the same way, on the same scale.
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