[DesertCat]

Buying real estate with a gross return of less 5% is very risky, esp. when the rents are being driven by a temporary government program. What happens when things return to normal and rents drop, maybe to $100 per acre?

The problem is that any rational investor wouldn't pay $5k per acre, or even $4k per acre, even assuming the ethanol boom lasts forever. Property taxes/expenses reduce your net rents by at least 10%, so if you are earning $180 per acre, and mortgage costs are 6-7%, you ideally want a rental yield in that range or higher. A 6% yield implies paying $3,000 per acre, a 7% yield implies about $2,500 per care. Unless rents continue to rise (or interest rates dramatically drop), that's eventually where prices will be.

It sounds like you are advocating buying at a top even though the fundamentals are ridiculous because you believe another top will come. You must have gotten rich during the internet bubble. Why not just play roulette and put all your money on black?