Canadian farm sells for over 100 times its assessed value

Nov 30, 2017

Some locals concerned about how the land will be used

Staff Reporter

Farms.com

Earlier this year, when Michael and Don Drozdowski decided to retire from farming, they had their property assessed. The eight-hectare portion of land in Richmond, B.C. was valued at $84,264, according to Tuesday’s CBC News article.

Then, in June, Layla Yang, the Drozdowski’s real estate agent, publicly announced a corporation bought the property.

The selling price? $9.2 million.

While this exchange may seem exciting to some people, others are not quite as pleased.

"Nobody is buying that land to farm it. If you pay that kind of money you are not a farmer," Harold Steves, a councillor for the city of Richmond, told CBC.

Locals are concerned that the prime agricultural land will be used for residential development.

"Agricultural land is precious. The delta region is some of the most wonderful soil to grow on that you'll find in Canada. So, when we start to turn this (land) into condos or use it for speculation, it creates an issue," Andrew Weaver, leader of the Green Party in B.C., said in the article.

Steves, who farms in West Richmond, agrees.

These buyers “are looking at developing huge mansions they couldn’t build elsewhere (because) farmland is cheap,” he said in an article on the Breaker.news on Monday.

The corporate buyer, Jia Xin Da Investment Management Co. Ltd., took ownership of the property on Oct. 30.

Photo: Devon Yu / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Video: Is China Buying US Soybeans + USDA Nov 14th Crop Report could be “Game Changing”

After a week of a U.S./China trade truce, markets/trade is skeptical that we have not seen a signed agreement nor heard much from China or seen any details. There are rumors that China is buying soybean futures & not the physical. Trust in Trump?
12 MMT of U.S. soybean purchases by China by year-end is better than 0 but we all need to give it more time and give it a chance to unfold. China did lower the tariffs on Ag and is buying U.S. wheat and sorghum.
U.S. supreme court could rule against Trumps tariffs, but the Trump administration does have a plan B.
U.S. government shutdown is now the longest in history at 38 days.
But despite a U.S. government shutdown we will be getting a USDA November crop report next Friday and it could be “game changing.” If the USDA provides a bullish surprise with lower U.S. corn and soybean yields and ending stocks that are lower than expected both corn and soybean futures will break out above their ceilings at $4.35/bu and $11.35/bu respectively.
The funds continued their selling in live and feeder cattle futures on continued fears that the Trump administration want to lower U.S. beef prices. The fundamentals have not changed, only market psychology has.
Stocks markets continue to worry about a weak U.S. job market, but you can blame ChatGPT for that. In the future, we will have a more efficient, productive and growing economy with a higher unemployment rate until we have more skilled AI workers.
After 34 new record highs in the S & P 500 and 124 new records in the NASDAQ in 2025 we are back to a correction and investor profit taking as AI valuations may have gotten too stretched near-term ahead of NVDA’s 3rd quarter earnings announcement on Nov. 19th. But this is not an AI bubble.
75% of Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk!
It has rained in South America in the last 7 days, but both the American and European models agree that Central Brazil remains dry in the next 14-days!

John Deere 9770STS combine sells for top dollar at BigIron auction

‘Share the Love’: Vote for your local foodbank on Facebook