‘Two, three, four million dollars’ to inherit a farm: advocate

An advocate is calling for additional exemptions that would allow farmers to pass on their land to other family members without getting hit by what could be millions of dollars in taxes.

Derryn Shrosbree, a farmer and advocate with 33seven, told CTV Your Morning on Monday that there’s an exemption for children but nieces and nephews should also be exempt, which “would be great for farming and to keep rural communities vibrant.”

“There’s a lot of cases where nieces and nephews have been actively working on the farm for 10 or 15 years already, but then they can’t actually inherit the farm without massive amounts of capital gains tax,” he said.

More than 40 per cent of farmers will retire by 2033, according to a 2023 report from RBC.

Two thirds of those producers do not have a plan to transfer those holdings, “leaving the future of farmland in doubt,” according to the bank.

The Income Tax Act grants farmers the option to transfer the property to a “child” on a tax-deferred basis but not nieces and nephews. Shrosbee’s organization, 33seven, is advocating to update the law.

“Without immediate reform, tens of thousands of acres of ripe farmland could be lost to consolidation under control of foreign-owned agriculture giants,” according to 33seven.