Reading Time: < 1 minute Farm Credit Canada has loaned nearly $1 billion under a program aimed at increasing the number of women entrepreneurs in the ag sector — twice what was allocated when the program launched a year and a half ago. The Women Entrepreneur Program was designed to encourage female farm operators and women in the agri-food sector […] Read more
Women Entrepreneur Program proves popular
Free mental health training workshops on offer
Workshops focus on identifying mental health issues and providing support, but deadline is Oct. 31
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Do More Agriculture Foundation is accepting applications for its rural mental health training program until the end of the month. The program is aimed at developing the capacity for mental illness identification and support in rural areas. Those taking the program receive education to identify mental health concerns and provide initial supports to producers […] Read more
BASF donation welcomed as food bank use increases
Reading Time: < 1 minute Farm Credit Canada’s Drive Away Hunger campaign got a boost from BASF Canada with a donation of 100,000 meals. “Now more than ever, our communities need our help,” said Jonathan Sweat, vice-president, Business Management, Agricultural Solutions for BASF Canada. “While a lot has changed in 2020, hunger hasn’t.” There are more than a million visits […] Read more
They ain’t making more: In land we trust — even during a pandemic
Alberta’s farmland values increased at a pace of 8.5 per cent over the past year
Reading Time: 3 minutes COVID-19 has created shockwaves across the agricultural marketplace over the past six months — but has it affected farmland prices? “So far, we’re pretty confident to say no,” said J.P. Gervais, chief agricultural economist for Farm Credit Canada. “Right now, given the data that we have, we see very little impact of the pandemic on […] Read more
Got land fever? There’s a ratio for that
Reading Time: < 1 minute It’s easy to get a case of land fever, especially when those acres are nearby and would fit nicely into your operation. But to keep things in perspective, it helps to have an objective tool for gauging affordability. In a recent article, a Farm Credit Canada economist recommends using the price-to-revenue ratio (the per-acre land […] Read more
Alberta community groups receive $264,000 for projects
Reading Time: 2 minutes Fifteen Alberta community groups have received more than a quarter of a million dollars from Farm Credit Canada’s FCC AgriSpirit Fund. Nationwide, the charitable arm of the farm lender is giving $1.5 million to 92 rural community groups this year to help support capital projects. The grants, which range from $5,000 to $25,000, are for […] Read more
Alberta farmland prices rise again
Reading Time: < 1 minute Farmland prices in Canada are “once again showing modest increases” in the first half of the year — except in Alberta and Saskatchewan, according to the latest report from Farm Credit Canada. While the national average increase was 3.7 per cent, Alberta saw a jump of 8.5 per cent in the 12 months ending in […] Read more
Pork sector’s calls for aid heard, not yet answered
Federal government says it's examining "all options"
Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau’s office said late last week the government is working “around the clock” to respond to the pandemic’s impact on farmers and agri-food businesses. But there was no commitment to the direct support Canadian pork industry officials say is now necessary to carry the sector through a crisis which has led […] Read more
The price of farmland likely to be unaffected by pandemic
The formerly red-hot market has cooled considerably, but the price of land isn’t getting cheaper
Reading Time: 2 minutes The pandemic seems to be impacting almost everything, but not the price of farmland. “I would expect that impacts are going to be minimal,” said J.P. Gervais, vice-president and chief agricultural economist for FCC. “We still have a very limited supply of available land for sale. That was the case in 2019. It was the […] Read more
Alberta farmland values likely to be unaffected by COVID-19
FCC farmland report doesn’t account for the pandemic, but impact on land values should be ‘minimal’
Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta’s farmland values have been rising at a slower pace for nearly a decade, and the pandemic isn’t likely to change that. “I would expect that impacts are going to be minimal,” said J.P. Gervais, chief agricultural economist for Farm Credit Canada (FCC). “We still have a very limited supply of available land for sale. […] Read more
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