Courtney Anderson, one of three researchers who authored rhe report, said farmland rental rates now represent almost 90 per cent of average net operating income per acre, leaving farmers with only 10 per cent of income to cover other production costs.
They found that farmland prices and rents are highest in Ontario and British Columbia and that about half of Canada’s reduction in farmed land is due to urban development. The rest is land farmers no longer crop.
What is not in the report is the findings of an Ontario study more than a couple of decades ago which found that land rental rates are lowest for fields owned by developers who want it farmed so they can reduce taxes. In one case developers were paying farmers to crop land surrounded by Mississauga development.
The lowest rental rates were closest to Toronto and the highest at that time were in Huron and Perth Counties, far from urban development, but prime land for growing crops.
