<b>lescor</b>, there are several factors driving farm = rural land prices in the U.S.
Corn production for ethanol is one temporary condition. Most of Canada's wheat basket region has too short a growing season for corn. From eastern Albert thru Manitoba to middle of Ontario, cold weather grains (wheat, barley, rye) , grasses (alfalfa) and hemp (seed oil, fiber) have ideal growing conditions.
Not so much with corn... short-season strains have lower yields and a brief window between germination temps of soil and last/first frosts. Your soil is terrific up there, but the frost-frost cycle is narrow compared to our middle plains belt.
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Second catalyst driving rural US land prices is suburban sprawl. The internet advent only hastens this. I run what amounts to a mini-hedge fund out of my house, built in 1850 circa within a town of 1,800 people and zero stoplights.
I'm quite sure more money passes thru my DSL lines each week than any other business in town except for both banks. That would never be possible before the web... now telecommuting is a big transition of our population. Why live in NYC or Chicago? Move to the country where crime is nil, spaces are wide, pace of life is slow and the women are still hot (laugh).
With suburban sprawl comes development. Super WalMarts and their ilk. Mini-cities are the new urban centers. Amish, Mennonites and other farmers displaced in one area take their new wealth to new places and repeat the process.
One family here I know has a 58-acre piece of land they bought in the 1960s for +/-$5,000. It is now in negotiation with a developer for somewhere above $2mil. They turned down $2mil, are holding out for $3mil and will get it. Why? Sits on a knoll overlooking a vista view of the lake. Water & sewer just went thru, along with other subdivisions already sold out.
Condos in Miami half-built go unsold. Rural pockets are snapped up like hotcakes.
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Third catalyst is timber investment = hunting clubs. In our country, hunting has evolved from a subsistence pursuit to hobby past-time. The advent of Outdoor Channel network and ESPN2 have cast a whole different light on hunting & fishing. Prime hunting = fishing lands sell at premiums above open farmland. If you have 100 - 1,000 acres of ravines, swamps and timbered ground, you have deer- turkeys - ducks - pheasants - quail. That is premium property... there are high-end realtors who only deal in sportsman properties for wealthy clients.
With the booming global economy comes high demand for fine furniture and flooring. Red oak, white oak, maple, walnut and cherry logs are highly valued and rising all the time. The amount of hardwood logging past few years has accelerated to incredible degrees. It takes 60 - 150 years for hardwood trees to mature. Definitely an asset in demand with three generations' replacement timeline.
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Canada doesn't (yet) have the high demand for suburban sprawl, shrinking opportunities for high-quality hunting and temporary demand for corn production. U.S. has had the first two for years, corn production just adds more pressure to the mix.
Given the opportunity, I'd love a big chunk of ground in Saskatchewan or Manitoba myself. At the prices you quote, that might be sooner than later!
