A wise man once said that land is the only thing that will continue to increase in value because it’s the one thing we all need and want that we can’t make anymore.
Of course, it’s not quite that simple.
Were it true — with half the arable land in the second biggest country in the world — a lot of rural Saskatchewan would be very rich.
Admittedly, farms have gotten much, much bigger — especially during the past two decades. And the value of land has steadily climbed in price.
But unless you have land right beside a city (or land with a lot of oil under it, with the mineral rights in your pocket) land in rural Saskatchewan doesn’t make you instantly rich.
That said, there has always been a recognition in rural Saskatchewan that the value of farmland goes beyond its monetary value, which takes us to the latest fight over the selloff of Crown pasture at what one group notes is below market value.
According to a group called s Public Pastures - Public Interest (PPPI) — an environment group formed to prevent the sale of federal community pastures a while ago — the provincial government is now dumping its land to help balance its budget prior to an election.
And that is a bad policy because of both the ecological value of the land and the potential of this land for alternate used in the future.
“These properties under the Wildlife Habitat Protection Act (WHPA) have a long-term value that can’t be given a bargain basement price and liquidated,” Trevor Herriot, PPPI co-chair, said in a press release earlier this month.
Herriot added the land should also be seen as instrument to meet public policy goals in agriculture and conservation.
“In the future, we may want to use our Crown farmland to help young farm families get started or to foster more sustainable land use practices,” Herriot said, adding some of the land now on the auction block was identified as far back as the 1980s and 1990s as having significant biodiversity value.
“All Crown land has ecological value,” Herriot said. “The more we privatize Crown land - whether it has native grassland and high ecological value or not - the more we reduce our capacity to manage for climate change, food security, and conservation.”
For its part, the government is making no bones about the fact it’s getting out of the land ownership business, but insists it’s only doing so because it philosophically disagrees with being in the business of owning land.
In announcing the sale of 600,000 acres earlier this month, Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart announced current leaseholders.
“All agricultural Crown land, including cultivated, grazing and hay land that is deemed to have no public value will be sold under this program,” Stewart stated in a press release.
That sale offer would include a 15-per-cent discount offered to lessees until March 31, then reduced to 10 per cent for the rest of 2016.
By Jan. 1, 2017, the discount will be five per cent.
And while lessees will be allowed to continue to rent the land, rates will increase by 15-per-cent in 2016 and by 30 per cent in 2017 — all in the name of the government getting out of the land business.
And Stewart argued that “there will be no difference - whether it’s leased land or privately owned land” on how land is treated from an ecological standpoint.
“This land is all farmed. None of it is native grassland,” Stewart said.
The Agriculture Minister added that high-value ecological land will not be sold under the program, while discounts won’t apply to the sale of moderate-value lands.
It’s an interesting debate over this pastureland value that most everyone agrees is of limited monetary value.
But it does say much about how we value land in a lot of different ways.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 22 years.
