Photo: Colin Dacre

The Naramata Bench

The Okanagan is home to the most expensive farmland in the country, according to Farm Credit Canada’s annual report.

The average price of an acre of farmland in the region, which also includes the Similkameen and Shuswap, rose 5.5 per cent last year to $103,000.

The only other region in the country that comes close to the Okanagan in terms of farmland valuations is B.C.'s South Coast, which saw the value of an acre of land rise 7.8 per cent to $102,000.

An acre of farmland in the Thompson-Nicola sold for an average of $12,000 last year, up 9.1 per cent from the previous year. Agricultural land values rose eight per cent to $40,500 in the Kootenays.

Across B.C., farmland values rose 5.4 per cent in 2019, nearly in line with the national rate of 5.2 per cent.

“The days of sharp increases in farmland values continue to be replaced by more modest growth,” said J.P. Gervais, FCC’s chief agricultural economist. “Changes in commodity prices, uncertainty around global trade and some challenging weather conditions may be tapping the brakes on an otherwise healthy and robust Canadian agriculture industry.”

The report was prepared prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which FCC believes will put downward pressure on land prices by creating challenging economic conditions throughout the food value chain.

“Given the uncertainty, I expect farmers, ranchers and food processors to continue being careful with their investments,” said Gervais, encouraging producers to have and maintain a risk management plan that considers a broad range of possible economic changes, such as variable production, volatile commodity prices or disruptions to global trade.