Producers made strong bids for available land, increasing values by 12.2 per cent in Manitoba, 11.4 per cent in Alberta and 9.4 per cent in Saskatchewan, says the 2025 Farmland Values report from Farm Credit Canada.

In its report, FCC said agricultural land values were “resilient” last year and defied expectations of a downturn.

“The market remained supported by farmland’s long-term investment appeal, tight supply and strong competition from expansion-focused producers,” says the FCC report, released March 24.

“The Prairie provinces drove much of the year’s average increase (across Canada).”

Overall, the value of cultivated land jumped 9.3 per cent from coast to coast, but provinces outside of the Prairies saw weaker gains or losses in value:

• British Columbia, a 1.7 per cent decline.
• Ontario, 2.2 per cent increase.
• Quebec, 4.8 per cent gain.

FCC attributed the modest rise in Ontario to farmers becoming picky. They were willing to pay high prices for top-quality land but avoided marginal properties.

A similar situation has developed in Saskatchewan. Expanding producers are driving demand for the best land in the most productive regions.

In 2025, price increases in northeastern, northwestern and east-central Saskatchewan were around 12 per cent. Those regions produce the highest yields for key crops like canola and wheat.

In west-central Saskatchewan, where yields are lower, farmland values increased 4.8 per cent in 2025.

The average price of cropland in northeastern Saskatchewan is getting close to $5,000 per acre. That’s a massive jump from 2019, when average values in the northeast were $2,000 per acre.

Farmland realtors on the Prairies have also noticed this trend of robust demand for fertile land.

“Good land in a good area is still going up,” said Tim Hammond of Hammond Realty in Biggar, Sask.

In southern Alberta, dryland prices surged upward by a 16.4 per cent in 2025. Irrigated land, which is now at $20,000 per acre in the province, played a role in the value gains in southern Alberta.

As irrigation districts have expanded, dryland acres close to irrigated land have become more valuable, FCC said.

A major theme in the FCC report was the shortage of land for sale in multiple provinces and regions.

This could be part of an ongoing trend, for the last 15 years, where retiring farmers rent their land instead of selling.

Whatever the reason for the shortfall of properties on the market, it’s clear that supply is “tight”, said J.P. Gervais, FCC executive vice-president of ag operations.

“This is something that has been certainly documented last year, and if I’m not mistaken, the year before,” he said.

“One of the overall drivers of farmland values, how tight the supply, does matter when (it) comes to the valuations that we’re currently seeing…. Generally speaking, very tight availability of farmland (for sale).”

Pastureland also higher

The FCC report had data on pastureland values, which saw a 5.2 per cent increase across Canada thanks to stronger prices for beef cattle over the last few years.

Gains were much higher in Alberta’s Peace region and northern B.C., where values climbed 17 to 18 per cent.

Across the Prairies, Saskatchewan saw the largest increase in pastureland prices of 7.6 per cent.

The post Farmland climbs higher in spite of headwinds: Farm Credit Canada report appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Realtors in Saskatchewan have noticed a shift in the market, where some properties are going up in price and others are not.

Buyers are still willing to pay a premium for productive land, but demand is much softer for mediocre cropland.

Tim Hammond, founder of Hammond Realty in Biggar, Sask., described the current situation as a “split market.”

WHY IT MATTERS: After 15 to 20 years of rising values, Canada’s land market may have entered a new phase.

“Good land in a good area, is still going up,” he said.

“Average land in an average area, it’s struggling. It is going sideways and in some cases it’s going down…. I haven’t seen a mix like this since I started in 2002.”

Hammond made his comments March 10 during a webinar hosted by Dan Aberhart, who runs Aberhart Ag Solutions in Brandon, Man.

Aberhart invited Hammond and Trent Klarenbach, a market analyst who turns Klarenbach Research in Saskatoon, to discuss farmland values on the Prairies.

A snapshot of prices will be revealed next week, when FCC releases its annual report on farmland values March 24.

In 2024, values increased 9.3 per cent year over year across Canada, including a 13.1 per cent jump in Saskatchewan.

It’s possible that FCC will report another increase in 2025, but realtors like Hammond say something has changed.

Two or three years ago, when he put cropland up for tender, Hammond would receive 10 offers.

The top three or four bids would be very close on price.

“What we’re seeing now, instead of getting 10 offers, we’re getting two or three,” he said.

“And the spread between the top bid and second highest bid is five, 10, 15 percent.… I’ve always said, land is only worth as much as the second highest bid.”

Other experts have made similar comments about demand and buyer interest.

It remains strong in certain geographic pockets, but less so in other areas.

“Farmland is still very much a regional market,” Justin Shepherd, senior economist with Farm Credit Canada, said last August.

“There could be areas that see (more) farmland value growth … but there could be other areas where there is (less) competition for that farmland, where you could see things slow down.”

Similar market for U.S. farmland?

A comparable situation has developed in the United States, where buyers are driving up the price of productive cropland while demand is weak for less fertile land.

Sellers of land, outside of the best areas, might need to lower their expectations, said a January report from Farmers National Co., a firm that manages farmland across the Midwest and Northern Plains.

It’s not necessarily a buyers market, but buyers are getting picky, said Colton Lacina, Farmers National Co. senior vice-president of real estate operations.

“(They) are carefully assessing soil quality, the percentage of tillable acres, water access and how a parcel fits into their current operations. Those details matter more than ever.”

A plateau in values would be a significant change for Canadian producers, landowners and the psychology of investors because the market has increased for nearly 20 years.

An FCC report on historical farmland values indicates that the average price increase was 10.7 per cent annually from 2007-23 across Canada.

The post Split market seen for Prairie farmland ahead of FCC 2025 values report appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Some grazing leases are set in expire at the end of February, and residents of the Municipal District of Taber were given one last chance at public consultation earlier this month in what has been a string of standing-room only discussions on the topic.

WHY IT MATTERS: With acres of native grassland dwindling in Alberta, agricultural producers across the province are taking a keen interest in what the future of tax-recovery lands in the MD of Taber will look like in its land-management strategies with various grazing leases set to expire soon.

Concerns from all directions have been voiced, including conservation groups, concerned residential taxpayers and lease holders, over how hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tax-recovery land should best be used to help the MD provide services for its approximately 8,000 residents.

Those issues resurfaced again at the Feb. 10 public consultation meeting as council takes feedback on the proposed draft policy updates to guide its decisions at its Feb. 24 meeting.

Because some tax-recovery land grazing leases are set to expire at the end of the month, any decision made at that council meeting concerning the 81,355 acres of land the municipality holds will likely be the final one.

The contentious issue has dragged on for two years and has gained interest across Alberta.

The packed information and feedback session meeting on Feb. 10 was attended by multi-generational ranching families with significant financial investments, conservation groups, high-value crop producers, residents feeling left out of a possible market-value tendering process and concerned taxpayers.

One resident in attendance read an excerpt from a memorandum of agreement from 2007 and 2011 when the MD first took on the tax-recovery lands.

“It is our intention to provide insurance to both the Province of Alberta as well as to existing lease holders, that this sensitive land will be protected in the future from breaking.”

The resident then went on to say: “This was probably mostly related to the MD selling lands to leaseholders, but where I guess what was coming, is they failed to protect this land from the MD itself. None of these caveats were ever put on title, and this is why we are where we are now trying to fight to keep this native grass.”

Former councillor Don Johnson cautioned the current council about the direction it takes with possible future land sales and the handling of grazing leases with future tenants.

He agreed council must get far better rates than it currently receives.

Transitional and community pasture grazing leases were set at $26.10 per AUM in August, and the new council is now proposing two times the provincial grazing lease rate for Zone 1.

Other proposed changes would allow lease rights to be sold and for leaseholders to receive some oil-and-gas payments based on thresholds. Tendered grazing leases would also have the option to purchase.

Johnson said council knew oil-and-gas revenues would eventually dwindle, and other municipalities, such as the County of Warner and Cypress County, sold tax-recovery land for a short-term cash infusion, but that’s now gone as a revenue stream.

“The intent was that it would never be sold, that the native grasslands would be protected and preserved. We met a number of times with grazing associations and the folks around that area, and with their input, we were able to come to an agreement in how these lands should be managed,” said Johnson.

“I have no problem with having a discussion about looking at are the rates appropriate? They need to be changed. Where I part company is any discussion about putting up for sale any tax-recovery land. I think that is wrong. I think if the council proceeds the way they’re going with this, it’s a violation of the trust in our council.”

A previous council decision last year to proceed with a joint venture with the Bow River Irrigation District to convert 3,100 acres of grasslands to irrigated cropland was put on hold by the new council after October elections.

Only 4.2 per cent of the native grasslands were to be converted under the MD’s control for the proposed Scope Reservoir Joint Venture Agreement, generating considerably more revenue with the venture than with current leases.

However, some fear this would create a slippery slope, with more grasslands converted to irrigated cropland or sold to the highest bidder outside the MD.

Feedback from the MD’s numerous open-house discussions and written recommendations from residents, which had a Feb. 17 deadline, will be taken into consideration for council’s Feb. 24 meeting.

The post Clock ticking on Alberta grazing lease controversy appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“We’re watching this, but we’re not necessarily complaining about it,” said Ryan Copithorne, president of the Western Stock Growers’ Association.

WHY IT MATTERS: The potential changes to Alberta’s MAS could have a big financial impact on Alberta’s farmers and rural municipalities.

“There are some groups that are out and out hostile over it right now, and I’m more of the opinion that maybe there was some bad process, but we need to keep an eye on it and make sure they do the right thing. So that’s kind of our view on it,” said Copithorne, a ranch consultant who farms near Jumping Pound.

The MAS could affect property rights, weaken lease protection and result in the potential transfer of industry liabilities onto private land.

Copithorne said there are about 471,000 wells in Alberta, and two thirds of them are in decline, aging or becoming mature assets.

“The government realized that they have a problem with this, because a lot of these wells are uneconomic. There are cases in the province where oil companies are transferring the liability or trying to get out from underneath these things, because there’s a reclamation liability on them,” he said.

Copithorne said some landowners and municipalities are not getting paid, and distrust has grown between landowners, oil companies and dissatisfaction with the government over this.

“Once the government realized they had a problem, Danielle Smith engaged an industry insider, David Yager, to formulate some recommendations on how to fix this problem, and so he brought together 97 entities into working groups he created,” said Copithorne.

There were six working groups, each tackling a different topic. For example, one topic was liability; another topic was what to do with orphan wells.

Photo: File

All the groups were engaged to come up with a strategy of what to do with the mature assets in the province. The consultation was invite-only. Some of the stakeholders, like landholders and representatives from the cattle industry weren’t invited when they should have been at the table, said Copithorne.

“There were a lot of government organizations, a lot of industry organizations, but there were some noticeable gaps. The rural municipalities pointed out that cattle industry groups weren’t invited, and yet cattle producers are some of the largest landholders in the province, and they weren’t invited to participate,” he said.

The table was skewed to the oil industry and not as much to the other stakeholders. This was one of the concerns brought up by the Surface Rights Federation and the Rural Municipalities of Alberta.

“The stakeholders were allowed to participate in one or two groups, maybe up to three. At the end of the process, there was no cross pollination between these groups. If you were a landholder, representing landholders, you were only allowed to have input on one or two topics, when all six topics affect you. It was a siloed approach,” he said.

“There was an underrepresentation of landholders at the working group, and there was no public consultation on it. There might be public consultation coming. I’m not sure, but at this point, there is none,” he said.

Copithorne said the recommendations from the working groups are just that and are not policy yet.

“But as stakeholders and landholders, we’re keeping an eye on it to ensure that there is a good process before it becomes policy,” he said.

Copithorne said the recommendations do affect property rights, because some of the recommendations were designed to make mature assets more appealing for oil companies to re-stimulate activity.

Mature assets are being retired, or become delinquent or inactive, because overhead costs are too high. The overheads include taxes, fees, and regulations.

Landowners’ rights can be affected if regulations are eased in certain areas.

“There was talk about making it easier for oil companies, so they wouldn’t be abandoning these sites and trying to stimulate activity on them, which I’m in favour of. I think most people are in favour of cutting red tape. It’s a matter of making sure that the right red tape is cut, and the wrong one isn’t cut. We can’t be loosening regulations on reclamation. And we can’t be loosening the regulatory burden of liability. Those things need to be sacrosanct,” he said.

In some cases, oil companies are not using the wells because of the municipal tax burden, he said.

This was a sticking point for the municipalities, because they said the information used for these statements was inaccurate.

“They didn’t feel like there was proper data used for the analysis,” said Copithorne. Municipalities were concerned about the lowering of municipal taxes or making things more tax affordable on these mature asset wells. Municipalities are taking the hit on declining wells. The liability and expense is likely to be passed on to landholders, taxpayers and municipalities.

Right now, there are $250 million in unpaid taxes owed to municipalities on account of delinquent or unpaid municipal taxes on these mature assets.

Repurposing wells into other uses could also have an effect.

“If they can come up with innovative ideas of what they can do with some of these old oil wells, that’s fine. The problem is, as a landholder, when you switch the use, suddenly, you’re talking about a whole different set of liabilities and a whole different set of rights,” he said.

For example, if an oil company stops paying a landholder, that landholder can be protected by Section 36, which is the Surface Rights Act, said Copithorne. This act allows landholders to receive compensation if the oil company stops paying them. Orphan well funds can compensate landholders if an oil company goes delinquent or doesn’t pay.

However, if the land use is changed to something like geothermal, the new technology does not follow the same set of rules as oil companies.

“We don’t know what the liabilities are. If there’s a recommendation just to allow these licenses to transfer into different uses, like for renewable energies, what is going to be the new set of liabilities?” said Copithorne.

“We need to make sure landholders are aware of that and are part of the process,” he said.

There’s been an increase in the number of non-paying or inactive operations because of low oil and gas prices.

“When you get low oil and gas prices, a lot of these wells become uneconomic,” he said.

The oil companies want to get rid of these wells, and they sell the well to another company.

“Often that gets transferred to some insolvent company, or lost company and all of a sudden surface rights aren’t being paid,” he said.

“I think if you get into a better marketplace, I think a lot of these wells would come back into production. But we’re suffering low economics right now,” he said.

There is a lot of red tape and regulatory costs when dealing with orphan wells.

Landholders should stay informed of what is happening, because everything is just a recommendation right now.

“We applaud the government for wanting to come up with a strategy on these mature assets. It’s the right thing to do. But there were question marks from some of the stakeholders about the process, and there were some question marks about the outcomes and the way recommendations came about. We need to make sure that before these recommendations turn to policy, that they’ve addressed the concerns of stakeholders,” he said.

Copithorne said people should also stay informed about their rights under the Surface Rights Act, as well as the Expropriation Act. These acts protect landholders from government overreach.

The Alberta Surface Rights Federation, the Rural Municipalities of Alberta and cattle industry groups such as Western Stock Growers’ Association are now following the mature assets strategy and making sure their views are being represented.

“I would encourage people to be careful of the repurposing aspect of these recommendations,” said Copithorne.

Landholders will need to be part of the process if that happens, he said.

If a landholder has oil and gas activity and mature assets on their property, they should document everything that happens, including payments, and activity in case they must make a claim.

“We also encourage liability funds or polluter pays principles, so if oil and gas companies are going to drill new wells or build new activity, then they’ve got funds set aside in case things go wrong,” he said.

Copithorne said landholders should keep a vigilant eye on the erosion of property rights.

The post Recommendations in the mature assets strategy could cause potential problems for landholders appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The initial Albertan launch was held at Brenda Bohmer’s grain farm near Bawlf. Since Bohmer joined the network, five Albertan landholders have followed suit.

Bohmer has had three Indigenous visitors to her farm since last July.

“It might seem like maybe that isn’t a lot, but in many ways it gives us a lot of hope. It’s a slow start, and I have a feeling that it’s going to be a slow process to get more landholders,” she said.

“I was happy to have three Indigenous visitors already. I think that’s a great sign, a sign of things to come,” she said.

The Treaty Land Sharing Network is a program that connects Indigenous people to landholders who open their farms to Indigenous people who want to hunt, gather medicine, fish or practice ceremony on the land. Inquiring Indigenous people can find landholders who will open their farms through the network, which recently published a map of all the participating farms on its website. The project began in Saskatchewan in 2020.

The network is seeking landholders in Alberta who are willing to open their lands for First Nations and Métis to engage in important cultural and spiritual practices on the land as the initial treaties were meant to do.

Bohmer acknowledged trust needs to be built on both sides. People affiliated with the network have been hosting presentations, and a committee is working to try to spread the word in a variety of ways.

“When we pause and we look at the past year, I’m very hopeful,” she said.

“It’s a lot of encouragement to have these visitors and having them confirms my own decision about sharing land in a good way.”

To date, the network includes 60 locations and more than 40,000 acres in Alberta and Saskatchewan, through Treaty 6 and Treaty 4.

Bohmer said the visitors to her land have been from around her area, but she has had people contact her from further distances. The updated map can help people who are travelling through the area. People generally contact her through the website, but she has also been approached at events.

Bohmer said interested landholders can check out the website, which explains how everything works and how easy it is to get involved.

“We’re directing inquiries to the website, and that’s where the magic happens. It’s not hard to get involved. It’s a very easy process. You basically just sign up,” she said.

There are some details and parameters provided.

“It’s not a harsh or difficult process at all, and then it opens the door to something special, something unique and it can have a great deal of meaning. It’s very important for Indigenous people, very meaningful for them, and likewise, for me as a landholder, I find it the same way,” she said.

“In many ways, it’s a big step, but in other ways, it’s pretty easy to do and has a huge impact on people.”

Beth Davidson, along with her husband Ralph and son Kevin, is another landholder who has added her farm to the network.

“I was searching for something more or less unrelated on the internet, related to agriculture and regenerative farming,” said Davidson, who ranches beef cattle near Alliance.

“I ran into the link for the Treaty Land Sharing Network. I read about it. Ralph and I talked about it. We realized it perfectly aligns with who we are, but at that point they were only in Saskatchewan,” she said.

There weren’t any plans to expand the network into Alberta, so the couple was put on a list. When the Treaty Land Sharing Network opened to Alberta in 2024, Davidson did the paperwork and joined the network.

“We chose to do it because it aligned with our desire to do something, to honour the treaties, and to make something right about what went wrong,” she said.

Ralph was born and raised on the land, and his grandfather and great-uncle homesteaded the land around 1905.

“He’s grown up here, but at the same time, for quite a while, he’s really felt there was something missing and something wrong with the way Indigenous people were supposed to have access to land. Land is always better if it’s actively being used, but also respected,” she said.

The Davidsons haven’t had anyone come out to their place yet, but they have had some inquiries.

Lana Whiskeyjack is a Nehiyawak (Cree) from Saddle Lake First Nation. She’s also an associate professor at the University of Alberta and founded the first Indigenous Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

“My research work is around rites of passage for gender, sexuality and diverse kin,” she said.

Whiskeyjack had ties to some of the people involved in the treaty sharing network, like Bob Montgomery, and Luke Wonneck, one of her students. Wonneck took a course from Whiskeyjack that was part of a Beaver Hills biosphere pilot project based on a treaty land sharing network here.

“My auntie Alsena (White) is a ceremonial person. She was part of the ceremonial lead, and one of the Elders of the Beaver Hills biosphere project,” said Whiskeyjack.

Wonneck is a coordinating committee member of the network and was involved with its set up in Saskatchewan.

“Luke heard my story. We had sharing circles about the process, about how I used to go picking medicines with my grandmother when I was a child, probably like close to over 40 years ago,” she said.

Her grandmother was the last generation to access those lands.

“My mother’s generation didn’t access those lands. When I told Luke about that, our shares in the circle impacted Luke,” she said.

This year, Wonneck was working on the Treaty Land Sharing Network as part of his doctorate, and through his research, he was able to connect Whiskeyjack with some of the landowners.

“Through Luke’s liaison work and facilitating, I was able to go with my auntie Alsena to two of those different farmlands just to visit the land,” she said.

Whiskeyjack and White returned to the land to harvest.

“It was incredibly powerful and moving to pick berries where my grandmother and I did it almost 50 years ago. It was emotional. I kind of get a little choked up thinking about how precious it is to rebuild those relationships,” she said.

Whiskeyjack said the project is an act of reconciliation and reconnection. She said Indigenous people have been disconnected from their kinship role and responsibilities to the land, because they were forced on reserves.

“Having access to the land where our ancestors were waking up the language, waking up that kinship, that connection to that land, not only for the families and how we used to be on that land, but also to that kinship to our Mother who provides for us. We’re waking up the land, those stories and those traditions when we are accessing the land. It’s an important part of language reclamation, cultural rejuvenation, and bringing out traditional health, economy and systems back,” she said.

Having an organization like the network helps facilitate access to the land and increases the safety for Indigenous people who have been threatened, and in the case of Colten Bushie, killed by a landowner in Saskatchewan in 2016.

“Being on the land, and that connection, that belonging, helps to heal so much of that trauma. We place so much of our belonging into our family that we forget there’s a bigger family we belong to. That is the land that is more than human kin,” she said. “It’s a huge help of letting us know that we belong to this land and we are related,” she said.

To learn more about the network and find participating farms, visit https://treatylandsharingnetwork.ca/access-land/.

The post Fostering reconciliation one farm at a time appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Demand for farmland remained strong in the first half of the year regardless of lower commodity prices,” said FCC chief economist J.P. Gervais in a news release.

“Buyers continued to invest, driven by long-term confidence in the agriculture sector and the limited supply of available land.”

The overall range of sale prices per acre has increased “only modestly,” the farm lender said. Provinces that had seen strong growth in recent years are seeing softening farmland prices while regions that had previously seen more modest growth are seeing solid gains.

“Overall, the market appears to be stabilizing,” FCC said in the news release.

Where and why values are growing

Farmland values gained 10.4 per cent year over year between July 2024 and June 2025.

That compares with 5.5 per cent growth in land values in the first half of 2024 and a 9.3 per cent annual increase that year.

Manitoba led all provinces with 11.2 per cent growth in the first half of 2025, with the Parkland and Westman regions seeing the strongest growth. In the Parkland region, large grain operations are building their land bases, FCC said. Alberta and Saskatchewan saw growth near the national average with 6.6 per cent and 6.0 per cent respectively.

New Brunswick saw the second-highest growth with a 9.4 per cent increase January to June. Strong growth in southern New Brunswick, particularly the dairy farming region, drove the increase. Gains in the other Maritime provinces were more modest with Nova Scotia at 1.0 per cent and Prince Edward Island at 2.3 per cent.

British Columbia and Ontario land values remained flat, and Quebec saw 2.6 per cent growth.

Cash receipts steady

FCC noted that farm cash receipts, interest rates and the overall supply of farmland are key drivers of values.

In the first half of 2025, cattle receipts were up 18.3 per cent on record prices. This pushed total mid-year cash receipts up 3.3 per cent. Grain and oilseed receipts rose slightly in early 2025, though this varied by region.

Grain and oilseed receipts are expected to fall by six per cent in 2025 compared to last year. Increased production, the effects of China’s tariffs on Canadian canola and peas and tariffs between the U.S. and China are expected to weigh on commodity prices.

However, easing interest rates and healthy balance sheets carrying over from the record crop years of 2022 and 2023 should lend support to farmland values.

The post Faster growth for farmland values in first half of 2025 says FCC appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

It certainly wasn’t an overnight process, and it involved a steep learning curve, but Steeves says being involved in Canada’s largest renewable energy, solar power generation project has been a game changer not only for his family’s Yetwood Farms, but for several other family farms in the Lomond area, about an hour north of Lethbridge.

The system of grazing sheep (or really any agricultural activity) under arrays of solar panels is known as agrivoltaics. For most that is not a household term. Agri of course relates to agriculture and voltaic (pronounced vol-tay-ick) refers to some process that generates electricity. You put them together and the term refers producing an agricultural commodity under these solar fields. Agrivoltaics is a relatively new concept to Canada, but has been used with solar power generating projects in the United States and other parts of the world for many years.

The Steeves family were just regular grain farmers, cropping about 6,000 mostly dryland acres of grains and oilseeds when they were approached in 2017 by Calgary based Greengate Power Corporation asking if they would make land available for a solar power project.

“I thought the first phone call was a joke,” says Steeves. “Some sort of scam as they were talking about a large solar project. There was a second call and I said if this is legitimate why don’t you come here and have a meeting with the people to properly explain the project.” So they did. Starting in July 2017, the company met with several farm families in Lomond during a number of meetings, which resulted in contracts being signed in October 2017.

That was the beginning of the Travers Solar Project “a trail blazer among solar power projects in Canada,” says Steeves. The project itself, today the largest solar project in Canada, involved installation of 1.3 million solar panels in arrays covering about 3,400 acres of farmland. The Steeves family has about nine quarters or 1,440 acres being leased to the project, while several nearby farm families leased another 14 quarters or 2,240 acres to Greengate.

It took about two years for the company to obtain all necessary permits. Construction started in 2020 and the project was completed and producing power by late 2022. The $700 million project is designed to generate 465 megawatts of electricity which in general terms is enough to power more than 150,000 homes.

So how did the Travers Solar Project benefit Yetwood Farms and the other producers who leased their land to the project? First of all are the lease payments from the energy company. Depending on the project, lease rates can range from $700 to $1,200 per acre per year. On top of that if the landowners are contracted to look after vegetation control — keep the grass and weeds cut under the panels — that can be worth another $200 to $400 per acre per year.

“When we looked at the project, here we are farming in the Palliser Triangle — the brown and dark brown soil zone — and on average our net return from crop production would be around $70 per acre,” says Steeves. “That’s an average. Some years better and during several years of drought conditions we could collect crop insurance which was less. Whereas on those acres leased to the solar project a person can potentially earn from $900 to $1,600 per acre just to have the project there. We saw getting involved with the solar project as an excellent opportunity to diversify the farm. With mostly dryland crop production and years of drought, this project has perhaps saved our farming operation, along with other family farms in the area.”

But, don’t these solar projects take good farmland out of production? Not at all. That’s were agrivoltaics kick into gear. When these large solar projects were first introduced in Alberta, for example, the asset owners wanted the bare ground underneath the solar arrays covered with forages. But it was soon realized that the real risk to these solar panel arrays wasn’t hail, although that can be concern, but potential for grass fires that could wipe out the whole operation. Hence the need for vegetation control.

There could be mechanical means for removing the forages, but with spacing of 21 feet between solar arrays and only about four feet of clearance under the panels when they are in the table top position, mowing and perhaps even baling the forage for removal would require specialized equipment.

For vegetation control in other solar projects around the world, grazing livestock — namely sheep — under and around these solar panels was a common practice.

“My dad had raised pigs at one time and we did run some cows at different times years ago, but I had zero experience with sheep,” says Steeves.

In preparation for the providing vegetation control for the solar project under construction, Steeves bought 50 sheep in 2020. He wanted to get some idea of what it was like to manage sheep.

“I soon realized that sheep are a lot different than cattle and for a project this size I was going to need some expert help with management,” he says. Steeves did some research, located an expert on sheep, a professor specializing in small ruminant livestock, who was managing a ranch raising sheep and goats connected with the University of Mexico, in Mexico City. He was interested in working on the Yetwood Farms project. In late 2023 he moved to Alberta and has been managing the flock.

Today, Yetwood Farms, which is managing the sheep and vegetation control for the entire Travers Solar Project, is running 2,000 head of breeding females. The plan is to increase that to 3,500 ewes over the next year and within five years grow the flock to about 8,000 head. They have built lambing facilities as well as feedlot for finishing lambs. The plan is to manage the flock so it is producing lambs on a year-round basis. Lambs are finished to an average of 130 pounds and marketed through the Westpine Meats processing plant at Innsifail in south central Alberta.

Steeves says when the flock is fully stocked, it has potential to produce about 13,600 lambs per year, with a total carcass weight of about 850,000 pounds of meat. If the price averages about $5 per pound that meat has a total value of $4.25 million. Along with land lease rates to farmers, agrivoltaics provides further return to producers through sale of agricultural commodities such as lamb.

Interestingly, the wool from the sheep has no value as a fibre. As sheep are shorn annually all wool, which is high in nitrogen, is mixed with manure and composted, with the compost applied to the Yetwood Farms annual crop acres. The farm hires contract shearers to shear the flock. Shearers are paid about $6 per head. A shearer with proper technique can shear up to 30 sheep per hour.

While sheep is a very common commodity for agrivoltaics, he says there are many options. There are a number of research projects across Canada, including Olds College, looking at the potential to produce poultry, hogs, beef cattle, hay and even annual crops under properly designed solar projects.

The sheep flock at Yetwood Farms is managed in an intensive rotational grazing system. The ground beneath the solar panels has been seeded to a forage blend. Right now the flock is divided, with 1,000 head of sheep grazing on about 60 acres and moved weekly. As numbers increase there will be multiple flocks moving through the field of solar panels. With rotational, mob grazing, they are able to run two to two and a half sheep per acre for the grazing season. With more extensive grazing management in the early days, carrying capacity was in the 0.8 to one sheep per acre range.

Steeves says the farm did invest in a low-profile Avant 860i loader which can travel between the arrays. It can be outfitted with a boomless sprayer to apply herbicide. For seeding they also have a small custom built air seeder that works between the solar arrays.

“If we have bare ground the air seeder is probably the best way to get grass established,” says Steeves. “But in areas were we want to renew or add forage species we found the best approach is to hire a drone applicator, apply the seed by air, then turn the sheep on to that area to graze. The hoof action of the sheep works the seed into the soil.”

Shade from the solar panels provides the sheep shelter from the sun and also creates a micro-climatic zone under the arrays, that suits forage production.

As they tried to establish forages during dry years in some areas the kochia took over before the grass. Some areas of the pasture areas were at one time 85 per cent kochia and 15 per cent grass. But through grazing management and seeding where necessary those percentages have been reversed. “We do have a couple areas of foxtail that we will address with herbicide, but for the most part forage production is trending in the right direction,” he says.

Steeves says the agrivoltaics project has been an intense learning experience. “When we started nine years ago, it really was the wild, wild west,” he says. “There were no guidelines, or regulations. We had to learn this system from scratch and we are still learning. There were a number of pain points as we went along, but the fact is that the benefits far outweigh any pain we experienced. It is a diversification opportunity that could benefit many farms.”

The post Solar and sheep provide valuable farm diversification appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The enhanced Private Land Conservation Program and the new Ecosystems Grant Program will enable better protection of natural areas across the province, while allowing landowners to use their land for farming and ranching, the province has said.

A mid-July news released added that private landowners in Alberta are strong supporters of conservation and have conserved more than 142,000 acres since 2019.

Many landowners have been asking for more flexible conservation programs to help them make a living while still protecting the land.

The Private Land Conservation Program is a redux of the Land Trust Grant Program. Funding will be distributed to Alberta-based land trusts only, a move meant to keep money meant for conservation in the province.

The province argued that the new term conservation easements will allow maximum flexibility for future landowners while still protecting the environment.

Term conservation easements last up to 50 years.

The new Ecosystem Services Grant Program helps landowners cover the costs of maintaining conservation lands, according to the mid-July release. The province added that grasslands, riparian areas and wetlands provide ecosystems services that support all residents of Alberta.

Applications are being accepted for both the Private Land Conservation Program and the Ecosystem Services Grant Program until Oct. 1, 2025. Details on how to apply and eligibility are available on www.alberta.ca

The post Alberta announces $10 million to land conservation programs appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Rollins said the administration wants a 100 per cent American workforce and suggested some people receiving government aid could replace immigrant workers.

“Ultimately, the answer on this is automation, also some reform within the current governing structure. And then also, when you think about, there are 34 million able-bodied adults in our Medicaid program. There are plenty of workers in America,” she said at a press conference outside the Department of Agriculture headquarters.

Most adults on Medicaid work full- or part-time or are not working due to illness or disability, caregiving, or school attendance, according to a May brief by the health policy organization KFF.

The farm sector has warned that mass deportation of farm workers would disrupt the U.S. food supply. In June, the Trump administration signaled it might pause raids on some farm worksites. It has since reversed course.

Trump’s tax-cut and spending bill, passed on July 3, introduces work requirements for Medicaid, which the Congressional Budget Office has said is expected to leave nearly 12 million people uninsured.

Later on Tuesday, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer said at a cabinet meeting at the White House that the Department of Labor had developed a new office to work with farmers and ranchers, but did not provide more details.

The Labor Department oversees the H-2A program, which provides seasonal visas for agricultural workers.

Farmland owned by ‘adversaries’

Rollins also said at the press conference that the USDA will curb farmland purchases by “foreign adversaries,” including China, and terminate agreements and contracts with people and entities from those countries.

Asked about land already owned by Chinese-owned companies Syngenta and Smithfield Foods, Rollins said the administration is still considering its options.

“You’ll likely see an executive order on this very soon from the White House and we’ll be looking at multiple different authorities within the federal government to begin to claw that back,” Rollins said.

In 2023, Arkansas ordered Syngenta to sell 160 acres (65 hectares) of farmland under a state law barring some foreign entities from acquiring or holding land.

Twenty-six states limit or ban foreign businesses, governments or nationals from owning private farmland, according to the National Agricultural Law Center, and some of those laws have faced legal challenges.

Only about 3.4 per cent of U.S. farmland is owned by foreign entities, and Canada owns the largest share, about 30 per cent, according to the USDA.

Rollins said she will be a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, “as of this afternoon.” The interagency body reviews foreign investments in the U.S. for national security threats.

Bipartisan lawmakers have supported limits on ownership of farmland by foreign countries, citing national security concerns.

The post U.S. farm secretary says ‘no amnesty’ for farmworkers from deportation appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The value of the sector totalled $832.5 billion as of Dec. 21, 2024, up by $38.9 billion or 4.9 per cent from the same date the previous year. That compares with 8.5 per cent growth in 2023.

Farm equity rose in every province but gains in Saskatchewan and Alberta accounted for more than two-thirds of the national increase.

Lower crop values weigh on current assets

Farmers’ total assets grew by 6.3 per cent in 2024 to reach $991.5 billion with most of the growth due to the rise in farm real estate value. Farmland value rose 7.0 per cent to $713.3 billion in 2024.

The value of current assets (short-term assets like cash and crop or livestock inventory) fell by 0.8 per cent to $57.9 billion, mostly due to lower values for crop inventory. The value of crop inventories was down by 17.9 per cent to $21.9 billion as crop prices fell by 14.6 per cent, StatCan said.

Poultry and market livestock inventory value grew by 26.6 per cent to $16.5 billion on sharply higher prices. However, inventory fell by 4.9 per cent.

Farmers’ ability to pay interest declines

Canadian farmers’ total liabilities grew 14.4 per cent to reach $159.0 billion at the end of 2024. This was the largest percentage increase in total liabilities since tracking began in 1981 said StatCan. Most of the rise was due to long-term liabilities. Rising liabilities in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec accounted for more than two-thirds of the national increase.

At the same time, farmers’ ability to meet interest payments fell for the second consecutive year. The interest coverage ratio settled at 2.12 at year’s end. This was the lowest ratio since 2007.

A lower ratio indicates that farms are less able to service debt obligations.

The interest coverage ratio continued to deteriorate because of the decrease in farm income, said StatCan. That decrease was due to a decrease in crop inventories and higher interest expenses, it said.

The post Canadian farm liabilities outpaced equity growth in 2024 appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.