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The Land Bank Revisited
Publisher: Institute for Saskatchewan Studies, CanadaYear Published: 1977 Pages: 6pp Resource Type: Serial Publication (Periodical) Cx Number: CX296 A newsletter that records the 19th seminar held February 14, 1976 at Wesley United Church in Saskatoon on the Saskatchewan Land Bank. The seminar was held regarding the rampant increase in price of farm land in Saskatchewan. Abstract: This newsletter records the 19th seminar held February 14, 1976 at Wesley United Church in Saskatoon on the Saskatchewan Land Bank; the same topic as the first seminar of the series held in November 1971. The seminar tried to bring some depth of understanding to the following questions: the rationale for a land bank, its aims, the problems of land transfer from one generation to the next, the health of a rural society which is based upon the ways in which we use the land, and, finally, the costs of producing and purchasing food. Professor Ted Regier in his historical sketch of different forms of land tenure points out that, although the privately held family farm persevered, during and after World War II as the most popular method of tenure there has been a great consolidation of farms to the point where the rural society is being fundamentally altered. The land bank, formed in 1972, has not acted simply as a "real estate firm," but neither has it "totally (revised) the present price and cost situation," and it is not likely to "release farmers from the present bondage of land ownership." After observing years of land bank operation, one is forced to conclude, so the summary states, that the number of acres controlled is not large when compared to the cultivatable total in Saskatchewan. Meanwhile, the department of agriculture's own researchers have provided information indicating that the inflation in land prices is so rampant that soon only large farmers, corporations (or the government?) will be able to afford to purchase. Subject Headings |