FCC Farmland Values Report: Ontario Farmland Values Increased 12.4% in 2014

Farm Credit Canada (FCC) released its annual Farmland Values Report. The national average farmland value increased 14% in 2014. This is a large increase over 2013, but lower increase than the 22% increase FCC reported last year. The patterns in farmland values differ across the country: Saskatchewan recorded an average increase of 19%, Ontario was at 12% while BC farmland showed an average gain of 4%.

Ontario

From the FCC Report: Ontario farmland values increased an average of 12.4% in 2014, following gains of 15.9% in 2013 and 30.1% in 2012. Average farmland values in the province have continued to rise since 1988.

In several areas of the province, demand for farmland significantly outweighed the supply, creating competition for available land. This, coupled with low interest rates, appeared to have played a role in rising values.

Demand came from many sectors, including large intensive livestock enterprises needing land for manure management and cropping requirements.

Non-agricultural buyers in southwestern Ontario continued to purchase farmland in select areas, creating greater overall competition for available land. Farmland in southern and central Ontario continued to be in high demand due to the availability of soil types that support high value crops.

Producers in eastern Ontario continued to expand, purchasing land in the immediate area and in neighbouring locations. Northern and eastern regions also saw prices rise as buyers from high-priced areas in southern and southwestern areas moved north in search of lowerpriced land. Markets in the north appeared to be dominated by a small number of buyers who acquired land, contributing to the increase in price.

However, while most areas saw moderate to significant increases, there were some that saw slight declines or no change in value. Sales in the province were accomplished through a mix of transactions including real estate brokered, property auction and land sold through the tendering process.

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Welcome to
Ontario Agriculture

Sign Up
or Sign In

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Failing Grade for an Out of Touch Federal Budget

The 2024 federal budget is woefully bloated with a deficit of $40 billion dollars and yet falls short in addressing Canadian farmers’ real concerns. “Once again, the federal government has missed the opportunity to support agriculture and those that work in the industry. The real issues impacting us are the cumulative effect of the carbon tax on everything that we do, the growing need to have coordinated grain research, increased funding for the PMRA, and industry efficiency through an improved Canada Grains Act,” stated Daryl Fransoo, Chair of the Wheat Growers Association. The federal government has worked to defeat C-234, a bill that would provide immediate relief to grain farmers from the negative impact of the carbon tax on grain drying. The government fails to understand that these costs impact grain farmers and their ability to grow grain for domestic and export consumption. The government was forced to change their policy on the Advanced Payments Program and increase the int

A Message from Our Executive Director: Spring 2024

Throughout the winter, we took the opportunity to engage with many growers at various meetings and events around the province. Growers are facing many challenges heading into the 2024 growing season including significant dryness in some areas, high costs of production, and weaker prices for some major crops. We know that these factors are placing pressure on growers’ expected margins for 2024. While prices of some major crops are significantly lower since last growing season, most pulse prices have held up fairly well. Prices for green lentils, green peas, and chickpeas have been particularly strong. In addition, India has come back to the market for pea imports after a hiatus since 2017, which has given some support to yellow pea prices since December 2023. Current estimates are that India could import 800,000 to 1 million tonnes of peas from December 2023 to June 2024, while import restrictions there are temporarily lifted. At the same time, Canada’s largest market for yellow peas –

Mobile skills lab to promote ag manufacturing

A mobile skills lab will travel around Saskatchewan to promote careers in agriculture manufacturing. Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada (AMC) will create a virtual reality experience with the lab visiting school campuses and community events to promote industry careers to students, parents, and teachers. In addition to growing the workforce, the mobile skills lab will showcase professional development opportunities to those already working in the agricultural manufacturing industry. AMC President Donna Boyd said the industry has seen huge growth and this in turn has increased the demand for talent “A career in agriculture offers the opportunity to be one of the most successful industries in Canada—one which protects the environment, ensures global food security and fuels the future of food through innovation,” Boyd said. “AMC is directly addressing the needs of our members and our industry through the Careers in Ag initiative. The Saskatchewan Government is providing $300,000 to

Ag content lacking in the Federal Budget

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) was disappointed to see insufficient investment in Canadian agriculture in the 2024 budget. CFA President Keith Currie said farmers continue to struggle under the weight of high-interest rates, a price on carbon for essential farming activities, for which farmers have no viable alternatives, and an increased risk of extreme weather events. He said these challenges are testing the limits and effectiveness of risk management programs. “While we understand there are competing priorities for government funds, with erratic weather and high prices tremendously increasing the risk profile of Canadian agriculture, the government can ill-afford to ignore food production and Canadian farmers,” Currie said. Some positives in the budget included a re-commitment to launch of consultations on interoperability more commonly known as right to repair, carbon rebates for small businesses and previously announced funding for temporary improvements to the A

Keep it Clean launches 2024 Product Advisory

Canadian agriculture must pay attention to export market regulations, an industry rep said

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service