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The pandemic wreaked havoc on many industries, but farmland still remains a hot commodity.
Canadian farmland has steadily increased in price since 2012 and Saskatchewan values are no exception.
The Farm Credit Canada report
Farm Credit Canada (FCC) annually reports on sales from across Canada and compares year to year.
Increases for 2021 were modest in some regions but each province with reportable data saw a rise in value.
The latest FCC report released this spring looks at the whole of 2021 versus 2020.
Value can vary based on soil type, irrigation and other environmental impacts. In some parts of Saskatchewan, for example, sale prices have been greatly affected by natural disasters like drought.
Land of living skies
Saskatchewan represents over 46 per cent of the seeded cropland for Canada and saw an average price increase of 7.4 per cent.
Saskatchewan’s highest increase was back in 2013 when prices soared 28.5 per cent year-over-year.
FCC speculates a lack of supply, coupled with low interest rates, helped drive up the values.
Sales ranged from a low of $1,000 per acre to a high of $5,500 per acre.
The greatest value growth was seen in the East Central at 11.3 per cent.
How are our neighbours doing?
Alberta accounts for 27 per cent of total cropland, with Manitoba coming in next at 13 per cent.
Alberta saw a small average increase in prices of 3.6 per cent while Manitoba enjoyed a 9.9 per cent year-over-year average increase.
Ontario reportedly earned the highest average price increase from 2020 to 2021 at 22.2 per cent.
It’s worth noting Ontario makes up about nine per cent of the total field crop area for the country, with the remainder of the provinces accounting for the remaining five per cent.
Canada’s breadbasket
Food security will remain a focus internationally as the conflict in Ukraine continues.
The provincial government boasts that we are feeding the world through a reported $16.3 billion in agri-food products, as of 2020.
Our farm producers are the world’s largest exporters of peas, lentils, durum wheat, mustard seed, canola, flaxseed and oats.
Surely this will only increase the value of farmland as the province continues to innovate and value-add to the already robust agricultural industry.
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