In my area, again anecdotal, no local guy has purchased property over 5 acres at any land auction in the last 5 years. Either mega-farm-corps have, or hunting/outfitting mega-corps.
The huge companies get involved and take the price for 40 acres from a relatively sensible $120,000 (what I purchased at 10 years ago) to $750,000+.
If you can't work at a scale that is so much larger than anything a family farm can, then you're priced out immediately. And if the farming mega-corps are not interested, it's because the ground isn't fit for row-cropping and the mega-corp nationwide hunting trek outfitting companies will double your bid without blinking.
It's a sad state of affairs, really. The only people who have enough money to play the game are either corporations or are in their 90's and bought the ground when it was $30/acre.