Last week Ritchie Bros. conducted its largest agricultural auction in Torquay, Saskatchewan, selling over $33 million Canadian dollars ($26 million USD) of farmland, real estate, and equipment for Hanson Farms.

The auction on Jan. 24-25 featured 59 parcels totaling 9,600+ acres of farmland, including a home quarter with a 500,000-bushel capacity grain storage system that sold for CA$1.33 million. Farmland prices averaged just over $8,000 USD per acre, which is a new high in the area. Many of the equipment items sold for more than what the consignor acquired them for.

"The results were much higher than we anticipated," said Kirby Hanson, who co-owns Hanson Farms with his family. "We didn't think the land prices would hit that high, but interest from farmers the week of the sale was unreal. We were pretty stressed the night before the auction, but everything went high.”

"This was the largest agricultural auction in our history, with record prices for both farmland and equipment," said Jordan Clarke, Sales Director, Ritchie Bros.

The Torquay auction attracted bidders from 30 countries, but more than 97% of the assets were sold to Canadians, including 89% to buyers from Saskatchewan.

Similar to the U.S., Canada is seeing strong demand for used farm equipment despite production challenges from the 2021 drought. This is driven in part by supply chain challenges in sourcing new equipment and parts.

Equipment highlights from Torquay, SK:

Ritchie Bros. has a lineup of agricultural farmland, real estate, and equipment selling in its upcoming online auctions and marketplaces. For more information, visit rbauction.com/realestate.

Source: Ritchie Bros., which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.