Gaza | Reuters — Returning to his fields for the first time in 14 years, Palestinian farmer Naser Abu Isaeed surveyed the toll taken by conflict on formerly productive soil. “I saw an empty area full of holes and dry weeds,” said Abu Isaeed, who once grew fruit on the tracts along Gaza’s volatile border […] Read more
Gaza farmers return to lands along volatile Israeli border
Machinery costs driving up fixed farming expenses
MarketsFarm — Fixed costs on farms continue to rise year-over-year, a statistic largely attributed to increasing land values and interest rates. At the beginning of 2019, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) reported farmland values across Canada increased by an average of 6.6 per cent during the previous year. But that’s not the main driver of fixed […] Read more
Ukrainian lawmakers vote to lift ban on sale of farmland by 2020
Kiev | Reuters — Ukrainian lawmakers voted Wednesday to remove a ban on the sale of farmland for the first time in nearly two decades, a move supported by the country’s foreign backers that risks a political backlash. The proposal must be voted on a second time to come into force. The ban would be […] Read more
Landowners’ rights in danger of being eroded, says advocate
Energy association wants review process streamlined, which could limit the ability to raise concerns
Reading Time: 2 minutes A growing number of abandoned energy leases in Alberta might make farmers wonder if it’s worth allowing an energy company to come onto their land in the first place. However, a “pro-oil and gas regulatory environment” may make it more difficult to express concern over proposed energy projects, says Daryl Bennett, a director with the […] Read more
Ukraine president plans farmland reform, large privatizations
Kiev | Reuters — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ordered his new government to submit a draft law for land market reform by the start of October and to prepare large-scale privatizations of state companies starting in April next year. Zelenskiy has pledged to lift a longstanding ban on the sale of farmland, a move that […] Read more
Farm equity growth slows in 2018
MarketsFarm — Equity in Canada’s farm sector increased by 3.6 per cent in 2018, hitting $522.2 billion, according to a report Thursday from Statistics Canada. The growth was well below the 6.4 per cent increase reported the previous year, and continued a trend of slower growth since 2013. Realized net farm income was down by […] Read more
Bernie Sanders promises help for family farms
Reuters — U.S. presidential contender Bernie Sanders unveiled a plan on Sunday to help family farmers and rural residents, promising to break up corporate agricultural monopolies and invest heavily in social and economic programs in struggling rural communities. Sanders, an independent U.S. senator and fierce corporate critic, said on a campaign trip to Iowa that […] Read more
Report shows slower pace for rising farmland values
While lower-valued farmland more often showed a higher rate of increase, and price hikes varied from region to region, Canada’s farmland values on average have booked their slowest year-over-year rate of increase in almost a decade. That’s according to the annual Farmland Values Report from Farm Credit Canada (FCC), in which the federal ag lending […] Read more
U.S. farmers face devastation following Midwest floods
Winslow, Neb./Chicago | Reuters — Midwestern farmers have been gambling they could ride out the U.S.-China trade war by storing their corn and soybeans anywhere they could — in bins, plastic tubes, in barns or even outside. Now, the unthinkable has happened. Record floods have devastated a wide swath of the Farm Belt across Iowa, […] Read more
Manitoba farmers unfazed by flood reports
MarketsFarm — As experts forecast a spring flood to hit southern Manitoba, farmers in the Red River Valley won’t be caught off guard. Manitoba’s Emergency Measures Organization held flood preparedness seminars in Morris, Brandon, and Selkirk throughout the week of March 11. Topics covered included the forecast, flood outlook, preparedness and response and disaster financial […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
