More farmland being rented out than ever before: Census of Agriculture

The amount of rented farmland in Saskatchewan and Alberta shot upward in the 2010's.

Farmland rented or leased in the two provinces went from 25.7 million acres in 2011 to 29.1 million in 2021, according to Census of Agriculture data.

So, in a decade, about 3.4 million acres shifted from owned and operated to the “rented” land category. 

The 3.4 million acres includes cropland and ranchland.

The data matches what real estate agents and producers have noticed over the last 15 years — less farmland is coming up for sale on the Prairies.

In January 2012, about 850 Saskatchewan farms were listed on the MLS real estate platform.

As of this August, 265 Saskatchewan farms were listed on the MLS.

The decline in farmland for sale makes sense, considering 2.3 million acres of land didn’t hit the market from 2011 to 2021 in Saskatchewan.

Instead, it became rented land.