Reading Time: 7 minutes Rapidly rising populations, sprawling cities, shrinking farmland, and the feared effects of climate change prompted the Ontario government to create its Greenbelt around Toronto 10 years ago, with the goal of protecting some of the nation’s top agricultural land from development and fragmentation. After a decade, it seems it may be working. The greenbelt approach […] Read more
Save Ontario farmers, save farmland in the process
10 years later, was setting up the Ontario’s Greenbelt worth the pain? More farmers are saying yes
Funds blocked from investing in Sask. farmland, for now
Reading Time: 3 minutes Saskatchewan’s government plans to take a closer look at its rules on investment in farmland, but will block such investments by pension funds and other “institutional” investors while the review is underway. The province said Monday it will soon run further consultations and a review of farmland ownership rules as now laid out under the […] Read more
S. Africa’s proposed ban on foreign land ownership aimed at farms
Reading Time: < 1 minute Johannesburg | Reuters — A South African government proposal to ban foreign nationals from owning land will apply to farms, not residential property, a government minister was quoted as saying Tuesday. In his State of the Nation address last week, President Jacob Zuma said foreigners would be barred from owning land and South African citizens […] Read more
Australia tightens rules over foreign buying of farmland
Reading Time: < 1 minute Sydney | Reuters –– Australia tightened rules on Wednesday over foreign ownership of its agricultural land amid concerns that it is losing control of its own food security, slashing the amount beyond which land purchases would require regulatory approval. From March 1, foreign purchases of agricultural land over A$15 million (C$14.51 million) will be subject […] Read more
Who’s buying up Canadian farmland?
Are non-farmers snapping up too much Canadian farmland? Nobody knows, especially in Ottawa
Reading Time: 5 minutes Again this winter, ownership of farmland is a heated topic in coffee shops across rural Canada. Rumours abound. Sometimes, it’s foreign buyers who are said to be gobbling up huge chunks of prime farmland, paying prices that Canadian farmers can’t afford. Other times, it’s pension funds or rich non-farm investors. Whoever tells the stories, the […] Read more
Sask. eyes tougher rules on investor farm buys
Reading Time: 3 minutes Saskatoon | Reuters — Saskatchewan is likely to tighten what are already some of North America’s strictest rules for purchasing farmland, as it looks to fend off big money managers hungry for what they see as a winning investment. The province, whose fertile plains grow more wheat than Argentina, has become the latest front in […] Read more
Foreign ‘land grabs’ seeing redrawing global farmland ownership map
Reading Time: 2 minutes Rome | Thomson Reuters Foundation — A handful of wealthy countries are responsible for most international farmland acquisitions — what some critics term “land grabs” — in a trend that is redrawing the global map of land ownership, a new study has found. China, the U.S., Britain, Germany, Singapore and a small group of other […] Read more
Inheriting the family farm as a gift
Succession in Agriculture: High land prices are driving innovation in how to distribute your land
Reading Time: 6 minutes Farming without some startup help from your family can definitely mean an uphill climb. But getting the gift of a farm inheritance isn’t always such a blessing either. Many farmers will tell you it would have been impossible for them to get started in the business if it hadn’t been for a “hometown discount” from […] Read more
Rutting season
There aren't any great options to fix your rutted fields. But here are the best - and the worst
Reading Time: 3 minutes Too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet. There’s pretty much never a Goldilocks moment for farming anywhere on the planet, and when those rare moments do emerge, they never last. It makes for challenging times for growers who have to balance the immediate needs of the operation, such as spraying crop protection products, or […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
