REGINA — Changes to Saskatchewan’s crown land lease policy will mean more direct allocations of property, says the manager of land sales and leases.
Greg Haase said the new criteria targets certain segments of the farm population as lessees — younger farmers with an established land base that’s neither too big nor too small.
“We’re saying beyond a certain size you’re already too big,” Haase said. “At the bottom end, you have to already have some sort of a farm before you can get crown land to enhance it.”
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The policy states “applicants must own, rent and/or lease land that has an assessment between 20 percent and 200 percent of the average assessment in the municipality in which the crown land is located.”
It also targets people between the ages of 23 and 35 who live near the land for which they are applying.
Haase said the new policy means fewer allocations will be determined by drawing a name from a hat. Of the two major changes, one is localizing the selection process.
“The fact that we’re looking at a range of 20 to 200 percent within a municipality is local as opposed to using a broad average on a provincial basis,” he said.
Priority factors
This summer, rural municipalities will be consulted for advice on which allocation factors are more important than others.
The other change is a size limit on assignments or exchanges of land. A person taking over a parcel must have an existing land base of less than 200 percent of the local municipal average. There were no size limits previously.
Haase said this will stop the continuous growth of a farm through the use of crown land.
Among criteria that remained the same was the provision for leases to be directly assigned to a family descendant. Extended family members such as siblings, nephews and nieces are still eligible for direct assignment, but only if the land was once leased or owned by a parent or grandparent.
