Ontario farmers to begin receiving property assessments

Oct 14, 2016

More than 220,000 farms will receive notices

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

More than 220,000 farms in Ontario will soon receive property assessments from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), to see whether or not their land has increased or decreased in value.

MPAC reports that farmland values in the province has increased by an average of 16 per cent since 2012; MPAC also reports that according to Farm Credit Canada, farm values have been on the rise since 1988.

“Farm values reflect the local real estate market and farm property owners may be interested to know that all categories of agricultural land have increased over the last four years,” said Rose McLean, MPAC’s vice-president and chief operating officer, in a release.

Assessments are mailed out every four years and the current ones will have a valuation date of Jan. 1, 2016.

MPAC compiles a variety of data to ensure the valuation is as accurate as possible.

“To determine farmland values MPAC collects and analyses information about sales of farmland to farmers,” said McLean. “Sales of farms to purchasers who intend to use them for other purposes are not included.”

Farm owners are encouraged to visit aboutmyproperty.ca to get more information about their property and its assessment including past values, comparisons to others in the area and taxes.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.