The leasing of city land for farming, it appears, is not immune from the effects of inflation. On Tuesday night at the Hall of Waters, the Excelsior Springs City Council approved leasing land around its water and sewer plants, and city wells to Libertybased Raasch Brothers LLC at $276 per acre for five years. According to Chad Birdsong, public works director, the amount is significantly higher than what the city received the last time it leased those properties. At that time, the prices ranged from $130 to $150 per acre, Birdsong estimated. With the combination of inflation and requests by “several of the farmers” who submitted bids to switch from a three-year to a five-year agreement, “the prices went up quite a bit,” he speculated to city leaders shortly before the vote. City records state there were seven farmers who submitted bids. The Raasch Brothers’ bid was the highest one. The lowest was $137 per acre, submitted by Shawn Scott. Per the contract between the city and the…