P.E.I. leads region, lags country, in farm equity growth

Jan 19, 2018

P.E.I. farmers watched the equity on their farm increase by almost 20 per cent in recent years, and while that's the best growth in Atlantic Canada it still lags behind the national rate, according to a new report from Statistics Canada.

Farm equity on P.E.I. was up 19 per cent from 2012 to 2016, while nationally equity it rose 36.9 per cent. Saskatchewan led the country with farm equity up 50.8 per cent.

The growth in equity was largely about real estate. On P.E.I., farm assets rose from $2.27 billion in 2012 to $2.76 billion in 2016. Of that $490 million increase, 88 per cent came from real estate holdings.

While the value of real estate, quota and machinery was up, the value of breeding livestock was down 9.2 per cent.

Livestock assets had been slowly rising from 2012 to 2015, but fell sharply in 2016.

Source : CBC

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.