Reading Time: 3 minutes Demand for farm equipment should remain high through 2023 despite higher interest rates and projected price increases, according to Farm Credit Canada. The federal ag lender has released an outlook on the farm equipment market that analyzed data and trends that affect the market. While the outlook attributes much of the current demand to relatively […] Read more
Farm equipment demand to remain high, FCC says
Low inventories, high commodity prices and a good crop place pressure on demand
Free mental health training, workshops offered for farmers
Do More Ag Foundation expands programming available
Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers seeking mental health support will have access to free training and community workshops for the fourth year in a row via the Do More Agriculture Foundation (DMAF) and Farm Credit Canada (FCC). Factors such as financial insecurity, uncontrollable weather and isolating working conditions contribute to high depression, anxiety and suicide rates among farmers, according […] Read more
Farmland prices remain buoyant in the face of interest rate hikes
Reading Time: 3 minutes Despite significant interest rate hikes, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) is reporting continued increases in farmland values across Canada. According to the FCC report, Manitoba’s average farmland values increased by 6 per cent in the first six months of 2022. Alberta values were just behind that at 5.9 per cent and Saskatchewan was just above the […] Read more
Young and bankable
Are you in your teens or 20s, and want to farm? It’s time to show you’re ready for the discipline of financial management
Reading Time: 4 minutes Growing numbers of family farms across Canada have started on the transition journey. They’re actively working at creating pathways that will give the next generation their shot at calling themselves farmers. For tons of these hopeful farmers, though, there’s a big question. How can they become bankable? Sure, Mom and Dad may think they are […] Read more
Rate of rise in farmland value ‘surprised’ in 2021
Canada books 8.3 per cent year-over-year increase, FCC reports
Reading Time: 3 minutes MarketsFarm — Despite a year of economic uncertainty due to extreme weather, reduced crop yields and the COVID-19 pandemic, the value of Canadian farmland rose by its highest rate in four years, according to a report from Farm Credit Canada (FCC). FCC’s report, released Monday, revealed that the national average value of farmland increased by […] Read more
Rock solid: Can anything tame farmland prices?
Drought didn’t do it. Nor has the threat of rising interest rates
Reading Time: 7 minutes Land is in an investment category almost all by itself, says Steve Duff, Ontario’s chief ag economist. “Outside of GICs, there aren’t a whole lot of assets in today’s market that don’t have some downside risk.” It’s little wonder that other market watchers agree. Canada’s farmland prices increased by double-digit percentages every year from 2011 […] Read more
The value of Alberta farms rises again
Rising land prices – fuelled by higher crop prices – up by $8 billion but debt also rose in 2020
Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – You’re richer than you think — and you owe more, too. That could be the theme of StatsCan’s latest snapshot of farm equity, the number you get when subtracting farm debts from the value of assets. If you had put all of the assets of every farm in Canada on the auction […] Read more
Interest rates biggest farm finance risk
Farm Credit Canada says the pace of debt growth has slowed but farmers need to have an interest rate risk management plan
Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – The expansion of Canada’s farm debt continued, but at its lowest pace in six years. Meanwhile Farm Credit Canada’s chief economist says that the potential for higher interest rates is the “darkest cloud” in that otherwise optimistic picture. Statistics Canada data showed outstanding Canadian farm debt increased by 5.9 per cent to […] Read more
Serious about mentoring
The idea of mentorship is catching fire in agriculture, with new programs popping up all the time. Should you sign on?
Reading Time: 8 minutes Lance Stockbrugger always knew he wanted to farm. “It was going to be my career,” he says. “It was just a matter of how I was going to get there.” When he was 11, Lance’s father was killed in a motor vehicle accident. The family — Lance, his mother and his three siblings — were […] Read more
Getting to the dream
A real-life story of making a non-family farm transition work, including all the time, the effort, the talking and the satisfaction
Reading Time: 9 minutes About 15 years ago, Bob and Sharon McCoubrey were facing a dilemma. Bob’s body was telling him it was time to give up his orchard and vegetable farm in British Columbia’s Okanagan. It was time for the next phase of their lives, but past experience had left a bitter taste in their mouths. “We were […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
