Is Farmland The Best Investment

[farmaholic]

Ok then, the cycles of high and low land appreciation are long enough that investment timing could very well determine if you bought an asset or liability?

[jazz]

I don't know what the homestead act is.

That is the most important piece of legislation ever enacted for rural folks.

Nobody, not the govt, bank, UN, nobody can take that home quarter from you and your immediate family.

The Homestead Act predates the indian treaties. Even they cant fk with that 160 acres including the mineral rights. If the trespass laws can be beefed up, every farmer basically a protected compound.

In Europe, farmers have been regulated and taxed to death so much that some said fk it and just live in their yard now and produce just enough to take care of themselves. Get revenue from bogus green projects like wind and biomass, let some foreign BTO run themselves ragged trying to grow food for the world.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Excellent question Burnt.

My wife's maternal grandparents were considered "Kulaks" in Russia at the time of the revolution. Land and wealth were definitely a liability at that time. The act of owning land cost most owners their lives. Her family barely escaped with their lives. I need to ask how they managed to rejoin society in the end, I know they had to run away and go into hiding for a long time. Her father's people not much different.

There are many among us who would love nothing more than to repeat that horrendous failed experiment all over again here in Canada.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Friend of mine was over last night. Made an assessment on 400 acres that sold across the road from him. Came up with payments of 118 an acre. He shakes his head. I shudder.

Farmers are our own worst enemy.

How does that compare to rents in the area? I hear of rents not far east of here that are very close to that price already. And the renters have nothing to show for it in the end.

Personally, I'll pay up to 2.5 times rent to eventually own the asset, and potentially benefit from appreciation or development, or lease revenue.

[burnt]

...The act of owning land cost most owners their lives...

Seems like that would put one hella dent in the asset side of the ledger.

We're not just taking about laws and land values here.

Your wife and her parents would likely have an answer to the question. Not many old-timers left who could describe what happened back there.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Given the direction we are headed, not hard to envision a time when we have been regulated out of being able to farm the land in this country, but still responsible for maintaining it. Paying property taxes, restoring habitat, controlling noxious weeds, liability for trespassers.

Look at how many are already calculating the costs to abandon and restore all oil and gas facilities and infrastructure, and who they expect to pay for it. As Jazz said in another thread, shutting down oil and gas is just the beginning.

[jazz]

Your wife and her parents would likely have an answer to the question. Not many old-timers left who could describe what happened back there.

Hear what you are saying and definitely concerned but even landowners in Europe were reunited with their titles after WW2. Its about the only asset that offers a hope of survivability when forces turn dark.

[GDR]

Given the direction we are headed, not hard to envision a time when we have been regulated out of being able to farm the land in this country, but still responsible for maintaining it. Paying property taxes, restoring habitat, controlling noxious weeds, liability for trespassers.

Look at how many are already calculating the costs to abandon and restore all oil and gas facilities and infrastructure, and who they expect to pay for it. As Jazz said in another thread, shutting down oil and gas is just the beginning.

Yep that's just what I was thinking too. Wetlands/ cleared bush /eroded land / contaminated land. Could be the scenario someday that it is better to walk away than comply with regulations.

What if the ROW gets there act togeather and no longer needs food from Canada? Or potential non agricultural food source? If our cost of production is higher than the revenue potential of the land it becomes a liability, costs taxes, upkeep and maintenance.

Definately a plausible situation.

[macdon02]

I have a buddy from South Africa that i met in Orlando, his security costs are higher then his mortgage. Assets gets seized as deemed appropriate by govt without compensation. We've talked about how his govt is basically practicing genocide on farmers that refuse to walk away. It's a common wealth country, should be civil, but we share a similar history as far as over running the locals. I don't have an answer on if farmland is the best.

https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/constitution-eighteenth-amendment-bill/

[Guest]

Was talking to a fellow from there who works for a farmer here
He owns 1100 ac there and was basically drove off it
No compensation and land sits idle now as the people that have control of it now have to desire to farm it , just didnt want him to
He said when the ROW turned on them over aparteid , there was nothing their govt could do about it , because of sanctions
He said our situation looks the same down the road

[farmaholic]

In a sense you could say this happened almost everywhere since the beginning of time, an invading group of people taking over someone else's lands, some of those conquests weren't near as violent as others.

Seems the least advanced people lost out to their more technologically advanced conquerors.

[biglentil]

There is no such thing as "land ownership". You may hold land fee simple of the Crown, but every acre in Canada is Crown land.