Grainswest - Spring 2026

Spring 2026 grainswest.com 33 NEWOWNERSHIP PATTERNS Mitch Newman is getting established at his family farm where he works with his father Roy and uncle. The 26-year-old is hopeful a farm transition will occur within the next five years. In his area near Blackie, about 50 kilometres from Calgary’s south ring road, land goes for about $8,000/ac, up from $5,000 just five years ago. He intends to begin like his father did, by receiving a few rented quarters. Newman believes land value is being driven up by multiple factors, including foreign investment and purchases by large domestic farmers. “When you have to battle that, it gets tough,” he said. “You have to give investors credit; a lot of people realize owning land is better than owning Tesla stock,” he said. “We get the right rains, beautiful soil and we can grow a big crop. This year we grew record-breaking crops. People got smart. They realized this is what your land’s worth. What do you do?” He intends to use a first-time farmer’s loan when he goes out on his own but knows it will be slow going at first. “Every chance we can get to buy land, let’s try and buy it, get into debt; who cares? You have to spend money to make money.” Being in a coveted farmland area close to Calgary, he wonders if land he may purchase will remain his own. Annexation is a fear. To combat outside competition, Newman intends to maintain positive relationships with friends and neighbours, believing this will ultimately help with rental or purchase of land in the future. At the University of Regina, André Magnan studies farmland ownership patterns and the restructuring of agriculture in Canada. A trend, he confirms, is the purchase of farmland by investors who then rent it out. While consolidation, retirements and buyouts occur across the Prairies, investor interest is on the rise. “Saskatchewan is and remains the focal point,” he said. “That’s because land prices in Saskatchewan historically were quite a bit lower, although the gap has been closing.” Every province has experienced escalation in farmland value over the years, but none as consistent as Saskatchewan over the last two decades, according to Farm Credit Canada. From 2022 to 2024 alone, the province’s land values rose an average of 14.3 per cent each year, more than any other province. In that same stretch, Alberta’s value grew 7.9 per cent and Manitoba’s growth rate was 9.6 per cent. A conversation about farmland ownership in the investor era By Trevor Bacque • Illustrations by Darya Shnykina F armland is sacred, just ask a farmer. Historically, when land changed hands, it was a simple process: Farmer A sold land to Farmer B. However, in the last 20 or so years, a curious trend has emerged. As the farm economy has risen, so has the financial potential of the land as an investment vehicle. The ownership details of Canadian farmland are hard to quantify and lately have generated anger, speculation and plenty of conversation across the Prairies. SACRED GROUND