The value per acre of farmland in Canada has skyrocketed by 334% since 2001

[Sheepwheat]

More like 5 or 6 times here, and most of that in the last six years probably.

How many farmers these days ever say they have enough land? That is the biggest problem, thinking ever more size in acres, will somehow fix all that ails commodity agriculture.

[blackpowder]

I guess it should stay in this section after all.

[Sheepwheat]

I guess it should stay in this section after all.

Was that in response to my post?

[AlbertaFarmer5]

More like 5 or 6 times here, and most of that in the last six years probably.

How many farmers these days ever say they have enough land? That is the biggest problem, thinking ever more size in acres, will somehow fix all that ails commodity agriculture.

Just curious, what ails commodity agriculture?
It would appear to me that profitablity is what is driving expansion in recent years.

[Sheepwheat]

Just curious, what ails commodity agriculture?
It would appear to me that profitablity is what is driving expansion in recent years.

Impossibility of youth to start up these days is the main thing. Because all that is preached is the one way to farm. It’s all western Canada is suited for is the one way to farm. If you do something different, you are laughed at as a non farmer, because it’s just a hobby to most guys. Ten acres of garlic is not farming to most guys. Even if it may be netting more than a thousand acres of grain. We need to encourage new entrants by telling them there IS A WAY outside of million dollar combines and obscene and artificial inputs.

Another thing is our soil. Canola wheat isn’t a rotation. I’d like to see the soil benefits of a two crop repeat rotation? Because of that, everything about it is artificial, and consumers aren’t always impressed by that. Nothing at all is natural in ag anymore. The soil is just a medium to hold roots.

What do fungicides do to the environment? What does clearing every acre and draining huge lakes do to water tables, to ecosystems? Most don’t even think about that. Is my shallow well going to dry up because every lake and slough gets drained to grow canola wheat? It might not, but I have the right to wonder, correct?

Finally, if commodity prices drop, how long will this supposed time of prosperity last? Is everything being bought with cash?

To my mind, there is a lot that ails commodity agriculture. I could go on for hours.

I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s childish to think outside the box.

[Sheepwheat]

Here’s an example. A neighbor kid of mine wants to farm. The parents though swear there is not enough acres to sustain both. The options? Get more land that is impossible to come by, or rent it out or sell out.

Kid wants to farm, but is told I guess buddy you can’t. Because we don’t have enough land. Poppycock!

How many parents encourage the kid to try another route of farming? Until you are out of commodity agriculture and into direct marketing, you don’t see the potential. I was there. I came from there. I had no idea how many things there are buyers for at livable prices. The old argument always goes, “Well if everyone does that, you flood the market!”. Ummm, no. I can make a living off of an eighth to a quarter of the sheep a commodity ranch would need. There is LOTS OF ROOM to do lots of things. I know guys who ship meat to Calgary , Edmonton, Winnipeg. At prices that would blow your minds. I know guys who mill their kamut and spelt and sell it for obscene prices, in specialty stores, but mainly online, all across North America. It’s unbelievable what can be done. But it always gets bashed, denied, and discouraged.

The farm kid I mentioned? Well, he won’t farm because he has no idea the sky is the limit with fewer acres. It is so frustrating to me to see.

This mindset needs changing imho if we want an actual farm community to stay on the land. Otherwise we will have four farms per RM, and we will wonder where our neighbors went in the mad scramble to get bigger and buy it all up, because that is the only agriculture that counts.

[jazz]

Sheep a farm with some built in resiliency (not too much debt, some flexibility in storage so you arent a beholden price taker, and some tight management) this business can deliver double digit returns, even 10 yrs ago.

Land didnt go up 331% on its own.

US has been planting corn soy rotation for 30 yrs.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

First of all. I really admire your business model. And respect the message you are trying to spread.
If I had to guess, this area has more quarter section farms than every other size of farm put together. A few of them are even making a living that way.
Lots of ways to think outside the box on a small scale. The best example I know of is an organic goat milk dairy on less than a quarter section of land making very good profit. In my immediate circle, we have people making a living with honey and a fish farm and countless horse operations and growing native grass seed and you pick berries and vegetables and direct marketing beef or vegetables, a guest ranch. Quite a few people have started from scratch without even a farm background.
Countless possibilities to do it different and on a different scale. In fact I would argue that much of Western Canada's climate and topography and labor market does not lend itself well to large scale intensive agriculture.

I do have a question about your operation.
Obviously it is now working well economically and fits well with your family ideals. I would agree that it's probably also the most environmentally sustainable model possible.
But my question is, would it be economically sustainable if you had to factor in the true land costs? If you were being current land values, could you also afford to be environmentally sustainable to the degree that you are aspiring to?
I know I have struggled with this concept. I know there are better ways to do it, and I know in the long run they could be more financially sustainable. But because I also have to pay for the land at at increasingly inflated values, there is no economic case in the short run where I wouldn't go bankrupt trying to do the right thing.
In fact I would take that one step further suggest that almost any operation couldn't show a profit if we acknowledge the true value of our land. At least not while simultaneously owning the latest and greatest equipment and infrastructure etc.

[Sheepwheat]

Sheep a farm with some built in resiliency (not too much debt, some flexibility in storage so you arent a beholden price taker, and some tight management) this business can deliver double digit returns, even 10 yrs ago.

Land didnt go up 331% on its own.

Believe me I know. All I’m saying, is that based on my modest land base, I shouldn’t be feasible, (I mean, eight or so repeated weather years didn’t help me out much!), so I found another way. Others can too. I mean to encourage others that there are other ways to farm. I recognize most guys on here seem to be quite wealthy and understand they simply won’t get it.

But if all my four kids wanted to farm, and our land base doesn’t grow, I and they will find ways to make it feasible for them.

[blackpowder]

More like 5 or 6 times here, and most of that in the last six years probably.

How many farmers these days ever say they have enough land? That is the biggest problem, thinking ever more size in acres, will somehow fix all that ails commodity agriculture.

In haste I took your comment as a call for the end of greed.
You are but one of 8B on this rock. Of a specie that is unchanged since emergence.

Businesses don't grow because they want to but because they must. It's an inevitable cycle.
If something is monetized it is commoditized sooner or later.
Generalizing a niche makes it no longer a niche.
Would it benefit society if more people saw the dignity in a Farm to Fork lifestyle, absolutely.
Are there opportunities, definitely.
But you can't sidestep the rules of money or the laws of human nature.
20% will produce 80% and will want that house in Palm Springs. No sheep dung in a Denali.