Farmers have always been political in Saskatchewan. We once had a united farmers’ party. Some, tongue-in-cheek, would suggest we still do.

As farmers like the Agriculture Producers of Saskatchewan’s Todd Lewis struggle with high land costs, the rest of us struggle with connecting to farming like we once did. Photo by BRANDON HARDER /Regina Leader-Post

The notion that farmland continues to dramatically rise in value should be a great story for this province.

As recently noted by Sylvain Charlebois, Agri-Food Analytics Lab professor at Dalhousie University and former University of Regina professor, the per acre value of farm land in Canada has increased 334 per cent since 2001 and 213 per cent since 2016.

It’s a stunning increase and Saskatchewan is leading the way — a highest-in-the-nation 391 per cent increase since 2001 and a 259 per cent increase since 2016, alone.

As they say when it comes to land, they aren’t making any more of it. And here in Saskatchewan, we’re already blessed with more of it that can be farmed than anywhere else in the country — 40 per cent of all the cultivated arable farmland in all of Canada.

In 2021 — actually, a rather off year in farming because it was so dry — Saskatchewan provided the world with 51 per cent of the lentils, 36 per cent of the field peas, 27 per cent of the canola meal, 19 per cent of the canola and mustard seed and 16 per cent of the flax.

As farmers are now taking a disproportionate amount of grief for environmental issues, we have sometimes lost sight of the reality that farming exists to feed people.

To counteract some of the seemingly growing negative things urban Canada now associates with farming, the provincial government is placing “Sustainable Saskatchewan” ads in airports across the country to make its case that farming practices here are as sound as you will find in the world.

This undoubtedly will also be part of the message Agriculture Minister David Marit will take as he leads another trade mission to United Arab Emirates and India.

But if it’s unfair that today’s Saskatchewan agriculture is getting a bad rap, what is fair is to suggest those still farming today have become a bit more removed from many others in this province.

Once, farming was the fabric of Saskatchewan. The number of farms peaked at 138,713 in 1941. In 2016, there were 24,523 — an 82 per cent decrease.

Updated Statistics Canada numbers are a little more generous, but that’s because they are based on census data that includes hobby farmers who self-identify as farmers. It’s puzzling that it’s so hard to nail down how many farms and farmers there are, but one thing is indisputable: Even if most larger farms are still family-run operations, they have become big businesses.

The biggest “farmer” in Saskatchewan is Andjelic Land, run by a Calgary-based businessman who once was Winnipeg’s biggest industrial property owner. The company’s holdings are north of 225,000 acres. Only Bill Gates owns more agricultural land on this continent.

Of course, most farms are smaller and many still are family-owned. But they are much bigger than they used to be and this new farming gentry may have as much to do with changing the rural landscape as anything.

Farmers have always been political in Saskatchewan. We once had a united farmers’ party. Some, tongue-in-cheek, would suggest we still do.

But what is different today due to their dwindling numbers and large scale — again, partly due to those land costs — is the creation of a new class of large-scale producers who better relate to each other and their own issues than issues outside their sphere.

It may be one reason why traditionally conservative farmers are becoming even more conservative and don’t relate much to today’s urban green agenda.

Those that can afford today’s high land costs aren’t just removed from the bygone days of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, the Canadian Wheat Board and the co-operative movement that once gave the CCF/NDP a foothold in rural Saskatchewan. As such producers become fewer and fewer, they probably also have less in common with the local teacher or store owner who is now much further away.

The old adage that most of Saskatchewan still has one foot on the farm seems to be fading. This is unsurprising. Fewer of us do.

It’s tough for us to still have one foot on the farm when most of us can’t relate to what today’s farmland costs.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

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