ExtrAcre Farmland Inc. has completed its 250th online farmland rental auction - a milestone marking nearly a decade of building transparency into Saskatchewan's farmland leasing market. This post looks back at the journey from a single 2016 auction in Swift Current, what 250 auctions have taught us, and what comes next.
ExtrAcre Farmland Inc. has completed its 250th online farmland rental auction — a milestone that marks nearly a decade of building transparency into Saskatchewan's farmland leasing market. This post looks back at the journey from a single auction in one RM to a province-wide platform that has helped hundreds of Saskatchewan landowners achieve true market rental rates, and looks forward to what ExtrAcre is building next for landowners, farmers, and investors across the Prairies.
When ExtrAcre ran its very first online farmland rental auction, the idea was simple but radical for Saskatchewan: let the market set the price. Instead of informal handshake deals between a landowner and a single tenant — deals that had defined Prairie farmland leasing for generations — ExtrAcre created an open, competitive bidding process where multiple qualified farmers could bid transparently on the same parcel.
The result, auction after auction, was the same: rental rates 10–30% higher than what the same land had been earning through private negotiation. Not because farmers were being exploited, but because the old system had systematically undervalued farmland for landlords who simply didn't know what their land was worth in a competitive market.
Today, with our 250th auction behind us, we want to reflect on what we've learned — and share where we're heading.
How We Got Here: The ExtrAcre Journey
What 250 Auctions Have Taught Us
After 250 auctions, a few patterns are consistent regardless of region, soil class, or parcel size:
Competition is the most powerful rent determinant. The single biggest driver of a strong winning bid is the number of qualified farmers who show up to bid. An auction with 6 bidders consistently produces 15–25% higher rents than one with 2 bidders — even for identical land. This is why ExtrAcre invests so heavily in marketing each auction to the farmer community in the relevant RM, and why our Auction Alert sign-up list matters so much to landowners.
Landowners consistently underestimate their land's rental value. In our experience, landowners who come to ExtrAcre after years of private leasing are almost universally surprised by the competitive bids they receive. The gap between what they were getting and what the market is willing to pay averages 10–30% — and in some cases has exceeded 50% in RMs where a single tenant had farmed the same land for decades without a competitive renewal.
Farmers respect the process. A common concern we hear from first-time landowners is that farmers won't like the auction model — that it will damage relationships. In practice, the opposite tends to be true. Farmers who win an ExtrAcre auction know they paid a fair market price through an open, transparent process. They know the landowner didn't just take the highest dollar — ExtrAcre's landowner review process means winning farmers were also selected for their farming credentials and reputation. This creates stronger, more stable landlord-tenant relationships than informal private deals.
"ExtrAcre is an Online Rental Auction Platform which was the first of its kind in Canada, and which quickly became widely recognized as the authority for the establishment of area rental rate in Saskatchewan."
What Makes ExtrAcre Different
What's Next for ExtrAcre
"ExtrAcre is an Online Rental Auction Platform which was the first of its kind in Canada, and which quickly became widely recognized as the authority for the establishment of area rental rate in Saskatchewan."
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