Article content

A strong harvest and expansion of the province’s grain sector helped boost farmland values across Alberta in 2016, according to Farm Credit Canada.

Its latest price survey found the average value of farm properties grew 9.5 per cent last year, following increases of 11.6 per cent in 2015 and 8.8 per cent in 2014. Farmland values in the province have continued to climb since 1993.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Alberta farmland values rose almost 10 per cent in 2016 Back to video

Nationally, prices increased an average of 7.9 per cent after double-digit gains in 2015 and 2014. Only Prince Edward Island (+13.4 per cent) posted a bigger increase than Alberta. Farmland values in Saskatchewan rose 7.5 per cent, compared to 9.4 per cent in 2015.

“The impact of some of the key farmland value drivers appear to be fairly consistent across Canada,” J.P. Gervais, FCC chief agricultural economist, said in a release. “Levelling out of commodity prices and some challenging weather conditions may have taken some of the steam out of farmland values and hopefully this moderating effect will turn into a trend.”