Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s not at all out of the ordinary for producers who farm thousands of acres to rent way over half their land, and while this provides some flexibility, it also comes with some uncertainty. Aimee Ferre Stang, her husband and her in-laws farm a combined 8,800 acres of rented and owned land in Saskatchewan. “Between […] Read more
Rent-farming: How safe is it to bulk up your rental acres?
Quebec service to match farmland sellers, young buyers
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Quebec and federal governments are putting up funds for a different kind of online match site: one to connect aspiring young farmers with producers who are either retiring or wanting to sell or rent farmland. The two governments on Tuesday announced $300,000 for the Centre de reference en agriculture et agroalimentaire du Quebec (CRAAQ) […] Read more
Six tips to successful land rental
This title to the old Russian folk tale by Leo Tolstoy hasn’t lost any of its significance.* It’s a question farmers ponder today, as land and land rent prices continue to rise to levels never seen before. Despite lower commodity prices, the cost of land is still rising dramatically in the Westlock, Alta. area (about[...]
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Not related, but farm hopeful gets all he needs
Dustin Krahn gets no land, no equipment and no pay — but thanks to farmer Ken Wiebe, he gets opportunity
Reading Time: 9 minutes You might call it a sort of succession plan in reverse. Young farmer Dustin Krahn isn’t related to Ken Wiebe, the established farmer who has found a way to help Dustin get a leg up. Meanwhile, though, Dustin is also helping Wiebe’s 22-year-old son, Zack, learn the ropes and get started in farming too. Are[...]
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The business of owning farmland
Farmers are land investors too, but are we any good at it?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Of course, farmers integrate their real estate into their production business, with land and buildings used for the growing of crops and production of livestock. Importantly, too, the asset value is used as collateral to secure financing. As well, farm real estate is often the main retirement fund. There is no question, too, that farmland[...]
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The land question
Can you build a sustainable farm on rented land?
Reading Time: 6 minutes It’s hard to acquire new dirt. Even if you can convince yourself that today’s spiking land prices are still affordable, competition from other farmers, developers and investors adds up to a red-hot real estate market. And retiring farmers aren’t necessarily selling their acres either, which leaves many young farmers counting themselves very, very lucky if[...]
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Sticky land rental rates
With other farmers bidding up 2014 rates, your only choice may be to go big or stay home
Reading Time: 3 minutes Grain prices have sunk, but it’s no news in farm circles that farmland rental values don’t look set to follow anytime soon. Nor, perhaps, should it be any surprise. “If we look at the trends in rental rates versus crop receipts… rental rates go up slower than crop income, but then they also take some[...]
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A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
