P.E.I. considering rent-to-own program for new farmers

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CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — 5 years after the Progressive Conservatives made an election promise to ascertain a land financial institution to assist new farmers get into the trade, Agriculture Minister Bloyce Thompson is now floating the potential of a rent-to-own program for younger farmers.

In 2019, the PCs pledged to ascertain a farm land financial institution that might contain the province shopping for farmland for the aim of leasing it out to farmers at an inexpensive price.

The thought was meant to maintain extra of the province’s scarce farmland in manufacturing and was really helpful by a 2013 fee on land use within the province, which was penned by lawyer Horace Carver.

Since 2016, the full variety of farms in P.E.I. and the full acreage of farmed land have each dropped about 12 per cent, in line with a 2021 Statistics Canada census of agriculture.

Accessible land

Throughout query interval within the P.E.I. legislature on Nov. 17, Thompson stated land costs have shot up since 2019 however acknowledged the significance of creating farmland accessible to younger farmers.

“We actually are coming to a pinch level the place we have now to deal with this earlier than later, whether or not it’s a land financial institution or some type of rent-to-own that we will give you,” Thompson advised the legislature.

Thompson additionally stated he would work with the Division of Transportation, which is answerable for provincially-owned land, “to give you an answer.”

The province just lately launched a “rent-to-own” program to assist first-time homebuyers.

Inexperienced MLA Peter Bevan-Baker argued escalating land costs imply establishing a land financial institution is “much more necessary than it was originally.”

He additionally urged a rent-to-own program might result in the institution of a farm land financial institution.

“This authorities has – supposedly, anyway – developed a rent-to-own coverage framework for housing that it might use as a mannequin to permit farmers to finally personal the farmland that they lease from an Island land financial institution,” Bevan-Baker stated.

“When can we count on an identical rent-to-own land program for Island farmers?”

“We’re working carefully with the minister of transportation to give you an answer, and also you’re going to most likely see a number of pilots right here within the subsequent short while be introduced,” Thompson stated.

$60-million price ticket

Talking to reporters after query interval, Thompson stated the province continues to be “ totally different choices.”

“A land financial institution has, as I stated, it is most likely not going to be the easiest way to go for us,” Thompson stated. “So, rent-to-own and even an curiosity rebate for younger farmers – one thing we will introduce in our future farmer program to assist the following technology.”

Thompson stated the up-front prices of building a land financial institution could be excessive. He stated a $60-million expenditure “wouldn’t even begin a land financial institution.”

“So, a rent-to-own could be one thing authorities can do that’s simpler to get in. Not the up-front capital {that a} land financial institution would have,” Thompson stated.

The province commissioned former PC management candidate Kevin J. Arsenault to check the potential of establishing a land financial institution in 2020. Arsenault’s report really helpful a $60-million mortgage program for this goal, to assist finance the acquisition of 25,000 acres of arable land.

Thompson additionally stated the province is planning a “future farmers” summit in 2024.

“This can be an enormous, massive a part of among the options coming ahead of how we get farmers into proudly owning land for the long run,” Thompson stated.

Stu Neatby is a political reporter with SaltWire in Prince Edward Island. He might be reached by electronic mail at [email protected] and adopted on X @stu_neatby.