The value of farm assets rose 10 per cent last year and now tops $627 billion, says Statistics Canada.
Most of the farm equity is in land and its collective value reached $577 billion, up 11 per cent, but the growth in wealth was not evenly distributed.
Farm equity in Ontario was up nearly 20 per cent while B.C. saw a 15.6 per cent rise. Meanwhile, Alberta saw an increase of just 3.6 per cent to $163 billion — and again, a rise in land prices accounted for nearly all the increase.
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The estimated value of equipment on Alberta farms hit $16.7 billion (up 4.4 per cent) but the value of breeding livestock fell to $3.7 billion.
Total liabilities were also up last year — 6.4 per cent nationally to $121 billion and 4.2 per cent in Alberta to $27.6 billion.
