(Dave Bedard photo)

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


(Dave Bedard photo)

FCC offers up new Starter Loans

“Preferential” loan rates are available to young farmers or agribusinesspeople planning start-ups through a new Farm Credit Canada lending program. Lawrence MacAulay, addressing the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s annual meeting Wednesday in Ottawa when he was still federal minister of agriculture, unveiled the federal ag lending agency’s new Starter Loan Program. The program, according to




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Ag balance sheet points to stable farm economy

CNS Canada — Canadian farmers saw their farm equity climb almost seven per cent last year compared to the year before — and Farm Credit Canada’s principal agricultural economist said that falls in line with FCC’s analysis. Data released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday showed 2017 farm equity climbed to $535.3 billion, up $34.6 billion






Farm debt seems manageable, FCC head says

The agency holds close to a third of all farm debt in Canada

National farm debt could reach as high as $100 billion once all the figures for 2016 are in, but Mike Hoffort, CEO of Farm Credit Canada, says farmers are generally in a good financial situation. “Canadian agriculture is strong and stable,” he told the annual meeting of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. However, farmers need