Yukon is offering Free Land? Time to move?

[SASKFARMER3]

Yukon offers free land if you’re willing to farm the north. In Canada's far north, the government of Yukon Territory wants to attract small farmers to the frigid region with a simple pitch: free land. And as Canada's northern regions become more hospitable to agriculture by opening once frozen land to farming, the opportunities are growing.

Hey Grass maybe you can move again and this time get free dirt.

It could be a big opportunity if a guy was cattle or Bison I'm thinking. Grain?

Would you move.

Maybe something for a young starting out farmer to consider.

[SASKFARMER3]

Would-be farmers who want a free 160-acre plot of land, the maximum allowed under the program, must pay for surveying, pledge to make investments in the property and meet other conditions in order to join the initiative.

People who receive free land must farm on the property for at least seven years before they can sell it, Jacob said, in order to stop speculation. These rules do not apply to investors who want to purchase farmland through traditional investment.

On average, the government doles out about 10 parcels of free land per year, Jacob said, with most concentrated around Whitehorse.

The region's agriculture industry is relatively small, the official said, with farmers producing mostly vegetables, hay, meat and other products.

Free land in the Yukon has been on offer since 1982 and some analysts believe demand for farms in the northern region will increase as the region heats up.

[binthere]

Great opportunity for a new reality show also.

[farmaholic]

I bet the cost of production in grain farming would kill you. Pipedream. Must be a brutally short growing season to boot.

[rockpile]

I bet the cost of production in grain farming would kill you. Pipedream. Must be a brutally short growing season to boot.

Ya, but you could grow 'frozen foods' ready for the supermarket!

[WiltonRanch]

If you're going to crop farm up there better get equated with irrigation. Summers are dryish there. But lots of summer sun. Probably could run a semi confined beef operation or a dairy if demand was there. Cows out of winter elements take less feed and less land. Have a greenhouse incorporated into the barns and use bedding and manure pack and cows as supplementary heat. Just brainstorming. Vikings did this kinda stuff 1200+ years ago.

[grassfarmer]

I know someone from Ireland who was planning to buy up there, small cattle outfit and a home processing plant to process and retail the beef. As WR says, real drought country up there, I advised him against it.

[WiltonRanch]

You'd need a good irrigation source and a decent market. And reasonable cop. Still not hard to truck food in from the south. Always interested in how Iceland or any high latitude locales feed themselves.

[woodland]

Always interested in how Iceland or any high latitude locales feed themselves.

Iceland grows bananas in greenhouses powered by hot springs. Dole can probably do it cheaper in the tropics but not as unique.

[WiltonRanch]

Iceland grows bananas in greenhouses powered by hot springs. Dole can probably do it cheaper in the tropics but not as unique.

Ha. 100 mile diet penny wise but pound foolish.