By Connor Lynch
Eastern Ontario farmland prices have stayed fairly stable but have been creeping up in areas, with the highest-priced land selling for $11,000 per acre, according to a survey by University of Guelph professor Dr. Brady Deaton.
He does an annual survey, asking farmers what prices they’re seeing on farmland in their area. The latest, from 2018, was released last month, and includes feedback from 1,271 farmers.
Sale prices are pretty similar to 2017 data: Farmland close to Toronto, at Durham Region, was in the $10,000 an acre range; Central Ontario farmland for the most part stayed between $3,000 to $5,000 an acre; and further east, prices were mostly stable, though they varied more widely from $3,000 to $11,000 per acre.
There were some significant jumps. Farmland in Northumberland, on average, increased from $4,000 an acre to $6,000 an acre. Ottawa, meanwhile, saw farmland prices increase by around $1,500, and Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry saw a $1,000 bump.
The top-priced farmland was around Ottawa (Carleton County) and in Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry at $11,000 per acre. Leeds-Grenville recorded the least expensive land at $3,000 per acre. There was no data reported for Hastings, Lennox & Addington and Frontenac Counties.
