Farmland ownership debate
Long-standing questions arise again over foreign and corporate farmland ownership in Saskatchewan.
- By Calvin Daniels
November 16, 2025
key points from this story:
- Foreign ownership debate renewed in Saskatchewan
- Concerns raised about non-Canadian landowners
- Land considered different from other resources
- Ownership affects land prices and access
- Family farm tradition part of debate
- No clear consensus if ownership matters
The rather old debate about who should own farmland in Saskatchewan has flared up again. The renewed concern is about non-Canadian citizens and corporations owning land.
The debate really starts with the question of whether it matters? Certainly we tend to look at land as a resource different from most, and it is in the sense no matter who owns it they are not going to pile it into a ship and take it away.
By contrast mineral and forest resources can be processed by a facility not owned by Canadians and hauled away – and that certainly happens. But farmland is seen differently – and frankly farming that operates in many cases as multi-million dollar businesses but are not seen exactly as being ‘big business’.
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