Canadian farmland values up 9%, but growth rate slowing

Lauren Krugel · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 19, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

Average Canadian farmland values continued their much than 30-year streak of increases past year, but Farm Credit Canada says the complaint of maturation is slowing and commercialized disruptions could further dent them.

The Crown corporation, which provides financing and different services to the agriculture industry, said successful a study Tuesday that the mean worth of Canadian farmland roseate past twelvemonth by 9.3 per cent. In 2023 it saw an summation of 11.5 per cent, and successful 2022 farmland appreciated by 12.8 per cent.

The past clip workplace values shrunk was successful 1992.

"There's a small spot of grounds that the summation successful farmland values are slowing down, but it inactive remains a precise ample increase," said FCC main economist J.P. Gervais.

He said the main crushed for the alteration successful gait is the gross diminution farmers are seeing.

"We faced successful 2024 a large reset of commodity prices," helium said, pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's penetration of Ukraine arsenic reasons for an earlier spike successful commodities.

Lower prices for grains, oilseeds and pulses led to an 11.8 per cent driblet successful main tract harvest receipts successful 2024.

Gervais said FCC had an optimistic outlook for husbandman revenues astatine the opening of 2025 but present is calling for different twelvemonth of diminution arsenic the U.S. makes tariffs connected imported goods a centrepiece of its economical policy.

"The request semipermanent is inactive precise strong. It doesn't alteration the communicative that we person for Canadian agriculture, which is the satellite needs much of what we grow," helium said.

In 2024, Saskatchewan led with the biggest summation successful farmland values astatine 13.1 per cent, followed by British Columbia astatine 11.3 per cent. All different provinces had maturation successful the azygous digits, the study showed.

But commercialized disruptions — not lone the tariff warfare the U.S. launched against Canada this month, but spats with different trading partners similar China — are causing large challenges successful the agriculture abstraction and could weaken request for farmland.

One is the inability to foretell what's coming, fixed that farming comes with precocious superior costs and bladed margins.

"Uncertainty, instability — those are large impediments to investment," said Gervais.

Declining involvement rates mightiness supply a spot of a cushion for those wanting to grow their farming operations, but revenues are successful for a steep diminution arsenic cardinal commodities get caught up successful the tariff storm.

"The longer it lasts, the much impactful it would be," said Gervais.

"If it stops tomorrow, it's going to beryllium a blip."