Annette Aurélie Desmarais

Growing Farmland Inequality in the Prairies Poses Problems for All Canadians

While most Canadians are acutely aware of how home prices and rents have skyrocketed in the last 15 years or so, few are aware of the restructuring of farmland ownership occurring in rural areas.  Since 2014, we’ve been studying changing land tenure patterns in the Prairies, where 70 per cent of Canada’s agricultural land is situated. Our research reveals three major trends — ongoing farm consolidation, increasing land concentration and expanding investor ownership of farmland — leading to growing land inequality.

Private management of public data: Benefits and risks

From 1976-2016, Alberta lost 34 per cent of its farms, and fewer and fewer people now control more and more of the land base. In 2016, 40 per cent of farmland in Alberta was controlled by just six per cent of farms. This kind of information is vital as researchers keep track of the changing patterns of tenure across the province. Alberta government's privatization of land titles means higher service fees are likely and less accessibility for researchers to study Alberta's 50 million acres of farmland.

• Alberta farms
• land titles
• ownership