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Surely that does not mean it is not an asset at all? The value of a farmer’s land, considered as an asset, would ordinarily determine how much farmers can borrow against it, and how easily they could withstand short-term shocks. But farm credit is not really set by the free market, and farmers are not expected to withstand economic shocks on their own. That is all subsidized by the ungrateful city folk.

They would rather see their own net worth slashed by the state than face change, as long as the loss is shared broadly

That is part of the answer to the mystery, obviously. For the Saskatchewan anti-pension law is not unpopular with farmers: they clamoured for it. The government surveyed them and released a compilation of their comments. Support for restrictions on land sales must have run at least 20 to one. A typical comment: “The family farm should be the primary focus for future farming. Not vertically integrated foreign owned agribusiness.” Or: “Selling off to large corporations and foreign investors will make it impossible for young farmers to gain a foothold to farm.”

There was the occasional cheeky “more people bidding on my farm land the better” vote, but that spirit, I regret to report, was outweighed in the comments by old-fashioned grumbling about investors from China, Korea or Alberta. The ancient Western prejudice against Hutterite colonies makes an occasional appearance.

Farmers in Saskatchewan, and people named Cosh can be counted among them, have often had the same neighbours for a hundred years. There is a subtle, recognizably rural kind of social pressure being applied here. The government is being called upon to preserve a particular way of life, and to resist making agriculture a bottom-line laissez-faire business. Allowing “young farmers to gain a foothold” means not giving them a chance to escape to another career, perhaps with millions of dollars in their pockets from a grandparent’s land sale, because a Canada Pension Plan manager reckoned that the asset could be exploited more productively and with lower labour costs.