Spring
2016
Grains
West
28
bogeymen are the Canadian investors
and companies that are scooping up
farmland across Western Canada—a
trend often singled out as a driver of
high land values and even higher rents,
and a barrier to both new farmers and
established farmers who want to expand
their operations.
BATTLEGROUND SASKATCHEWAN
Saskatchewan has become the
epicentre for the debate over outside
investment in agricultural land. In
one high-profile case, the Canada
Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB)
expanded its farmland holdings in the
province, buying Assiniboia Farmland
Limited Partnership’s entire 115,000-acre
portfolio for $128 million in late 2013.
The purchase triggered tremendous
backlash from rural Saskatchewan
residents, who pressured the provincial
government to intervene.
The result was a farmland ownership
review in 2015, in which the government
consulted industry groups and surveyed
the general public. There were 3,200
respondents who provided feedback—87
per cent were opposed to foreign
ownership of farmland and 75 per cent
opposed investors, including Canadian
pension funds, frombuying farmland
in the province. Soon afterwards, the
provincial government amended its
regulations to bar pension plans and
administrators of pension fund assets and
trusts frompurchasing farmland in the
province. The amendments also require
that all financing for farmland purchases
come fromCanadian businesses or
Canadian individuals, while providing
additional powers to the province’s
Farm Land Security Board to enforce the
beefed-up regulations.
Reaction to the changes has been
largely positive from farmers and grower
groups. According to Lindsey Good,
who farms land in Saskatchewan south
of Regina and in Alberta east of Carstairs,
the new rules barring pension plans from
buying farmland should ensure a healthy
amount of land transfer continues in the
province.
