Soaring farmland prices a crisis in the making: High costs make it hard for young farmers hoping to get into the business

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farmland, prices, Canada, agriculture, farmers, food-security

An article posted in CBC News discusses the rising value of farmland and dangerous effect this can have on our agricultural system. Here is an excerpt from the article:

If you knew there was a very safe Canadian investment that skyrocketed by 20 per cent last year, you’d probably say that was a good thing.

But when the thing that’s going up in value is farmland, Christie Young says it’s a crisis in the making.

The latest survey by Farm Credit Canada shows the price of farmland in Quebec rose by a staggering 19.4 per cent last year. Nationally, Canadian farmland from coast to coast has risen by an average of 12 per cent a year since 2008. That’s more than five times the rate of inflation.

For people who already own farmland, soaring prices are a windfall.

But Young, executive director of FarmStart, a group trying to help young farmers get into the business of farming, says Canada is facing a sea change that bodes ill for agriculture.

For the full article, click here.