In 2023, the price of farmland in Canada kept going up, says a report from the Farm Credit Canada (FCC). The average increase was 11.5%, a little less than the 12.8% of the year before. Even with tough economic times, the demand for farmland stayed strong, making prices go up.
J.P. Gervais, the chief economist at FCC, noted, "Farmland prices have continued to increase at a rapid pace over the last couple of years, even when economic conditions suggested the growth should slow. " This growth is driven by a strong demand for farmland amidst a limited supply.
When asked by Small Farm Canada, Gervais highlighted a big problem: Farmland getting more expensive makes it tough for young and new farmers to get started. This risk comes from having to pay more to rent land and buy what they need to farm.
The provinces of Saskatchewan, Quebec, Manitoba, and Ontario experienced the highest average increases in farmland values, with rises of 15.7%, 13.3%, 11.1%, and 10.7% respectively.
These double-digit increases contrast with the more modest growth in Nova Scotia (7.8%), Prince Edward Island (7.4%), Alberta (6.5%), and New Brunswick (5.6%).
In contrast, British Columbia saw an average decline of 3.1%, despite having the highest average farmland values in the country. Some regions, including Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, did not have enough public sales data to fully assess farmland value trends.
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