Ontario has some of the best quality farmland in Canada, but it was not always the most valuable. That title was held for a long time by Alberta, but Ontario has pulled ahead statistically during the past three years.
According to the Statistics Canada Balance Sheet of Agriculture for 2022, which was issued on June 22, the total value of agricultural assets in Canada was $837,949,302 in 2022, and that is a 19.5 per cent increase from 2020. The total value of agricultural real estate in Canada in 2022 was $652,464,647, and that equals 78 per cent of the total agricultural asset value for the entire country in 2022.
In 2020, the total value of farm assets in Ontario was $177,582,963 and the total farm real estate value was $141,034,336. In 2021, the total asset value was $207,308,846 and total real estate value was $169,876,346. In 2022, the total farm real estate value in Ontario was $201,058,310 and the total agricultural asset value for the province was $240,354,949. Meanwhile, Alberta’s total value of farm real estate in 2022 was $167,363,233 and the province’s total agricultural asset value for the year was $212,712,467. The total agricultural asset value for Alberta in 2021 was $192,825,829 and the total farm real estate value was $152,268,982. For Alberta in 2020, the total farm real estate value was $146,534,480 and the total agricultural asset value for the province was $185,191,960.
A look at Statistics Canada’s estimated value of agricultural land and buildings per acre reveals that the increase in the value of farmland in Ontario is not necessarily being increased by its actual potential for farming, but for development. The values are significantly higher in the Greater Toronto Area, and in City of Ottawa, which includes rural, agricultural areas formerly part of Carleton County. In Statistics Canada’s Eastern Ontario Region in 2021, the estimated value of agricultural land and buildings in Ottawa was $11,378 per acre, which was the highest estimated amount in the region. The United Counties of Prescott and Russell, where the majority of the land is rural, the estimated value of agricultural land and buildings in 2021 was second at $10,731 per acre. The United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry had the highest estimated value of agricultural land and buildings in Statistics Canada’s Eastern Ontario Region in 2021 at $10,709 per acre.
According to the Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB), the average sale price of a farm property within its territory in 2022 was $1,464,383. In 2021, the OREB average was $832,856. The 2020 OREB average farm sale price was $ $670, 301.
The estimated agricultural building and land values in Eastern Ontario are lower than those in the Western Ontario Region for Statistics Canada. The heavily urbanizing Halton Region had a 2021 estimated value of $49,537 per acre while the mostly rural and majority agricultural Perth County’s estimated value in 2021 was $21,975 per acre.
In Québec, the value of total agricultural assets and farm real estate is lower. According to Statistics Canada, total assets in Québec for 2022 were $95,092,719 with total farm real estate that year being valued at $67,744,665.
To view the complete Statistics Canada Balance Sheet of Agriculture for 2022, which includes information for each province and links to pages showing agricultural land values for regions within each province, go to https://tinyurl.com/24bv9agp.
