Farm-Scape, Episode 1587

A study conducted by Royal LePage Stevenson Advisors has found no evidence that intensive livestock operations negatively impact neighboring property values in Rural Manitoba.

An evaluation of the impact of intensive livestock operations on surrounding real estate values looked at residential, improved property and vacant land values in five rural test case areas.

Each of the five sites had various scale hog operations and two also had other livestock operations, one a cattle feedlot and the other a poultry operation.

Royal LePage Stevenson Advisors Consulting Manager Brett Ferguson says the study looked at valuation trends within a five mile radius of the operations over a five year period.

"What we found in general was that there was no significant impact from the hog barn or ILO operations.

In some cases there was actually a slight increase in prices in some of the rural residential properties in closer proximity.

In some of the trends observed you will see the trend increasing. It must be kept in mind that we're dealing with relatively small sample sizes so, when I say trends, not a definitive trend but, based on the data that we were using, the trend showed that the properties in closer proximity in some instances were selling at a higher square foot rate than properties as you move further away geographically from the hog barn operations."

Ferguson says, while the data suggests higher prices are commonly found within closer proximity to hog barns, this particular study is not able to explain that trend.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.