The average price of farmland in Canada continued to climb last year due to fewer but more strategic investments by producers.

Farm Credit Canada says prices were up about 6.7 per cent in BC in 2018, more than double the 2.7 per cent increase in 2017.

It is the eighth straight year with an increase in prices after a slight 0.5 per cent reduction in 2010.

Senior Appraiser Bill Weibe says in the Southern Interior, there has been more demand for farmland in the Okanagan.

“In the Thompson-Nicola region, there has actually been a fair bit of interest but actual closing deals are pretty much on average. There’s not much surprise there,” he said on the NL Morning News.

“There’s not a big change from previous years where you see operations expanding and looking for opportunities to grow their business. Some people are deciding to exit and move out and do something else.”

Weibe says the vast majority of farming still takes place on the family farm, rather than at large-scale commercial operations.

“Certainly there is larger operations staring to be active in the industry and it’s certainly growing,” he added. “Definitely, the world is changing farming.”

“It’s more of a business than a lifestyle, though the vast majority of people still are in it for the type of business it is, and they are enjoying it.”

He was asked if farmland is a good investment opportunity for people.

“Farmland is primarily purchased for what you can produce and what kind of returns you can get on that. Of course, to some degree, they do rely on farmland as a basis for the next generation to continue that business,” he said.

In B.C. over the last ten years, farmland prices increases have been for the most part, lower than the national average.

The 2018 increase of 6.7 per cent was the second largest increase since 2010, second to an 8.2 per cent increase in 2016.