Farmscape for April 26, 2018

Farm Credit Canada reports the value of Farmland across Canada continued to increase during 2017 and at a faster pace than the past three years.
To provide farmers across Canada an indication of agricultural real estate trends and help them make better decisions Farm Credit Canada tracks and reports farmland price trends across 51 regions and has released its 2017 Farmland Values Report.
JP Gervais, Farm Credit Canada's Chief Agricultural Economist, reports overall 2017 saw continued upward pressure on farmland values.

Clip-JP Gervais-Farm Credit Canada:
Overall I would say that farmland values have continued to increase in 2017.
Out of the 51 regions we have only seven regions that are showing a stable trend or no increase or very small increases in farmland values.
That's seven out of the 51 regions and we have one region where we actually recorded an average decline but otherwise, coast to coast, I would say there's still quite a bit of upward pressure on farmland values.
The average national increase in farmland values for 2017 is estimated to be at 8.4 percent.
Where as, in the previous years, for three successive years actually prior to 2017 we had the rate of increase starting to decline.
Farmland values were going up but at a slower pace.
Now, at 8.4 percent, we actually have a slightly higher rate of increase in 2017 than what we had in 2016, which was 7.9 percent, so farmland values continue to increase.
I think it speaks to the health and the strength of the industry.
Obviously there's some regional differences across the country but overall there's upward pressure on farmland values.

To access Farm Credit Canada's 2017 Farmland Values Report and get more detailed information on specific regions visit fcc-fac.ca.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

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