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Wanted: farmland for investment – TimminsToday

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Each summer, Gilles Matko estimates, the municipal office in Hearst gets anywhere from 15 to 20 visits from potential investors inquiring about available agricultural land.

And each summer, municipal staff scrambles to track down the private owners of various unused parcels so they can connect the two parties for a potential transaction.

Matko said it’s a scenario that’s repeated in many of the small communities dotting the Highway 11 corridor, which snakes through the fertile expanse of Ontario’s Clay Belt.

“You know that there’s land there,” said Matko, general manager of the Nord-Aski Regional Economic Development Corp.

“It’s just who do you contact, and do those folks actually want to be contacted?”

Now, with the Northeast Community Network (NeCN) acting as lead, those communities are collectively undertaking a new project to ease the process.

Through the Cochrane District Agri-food Land Assembly Project, the organization wants to connect with landowners who may be interested in renting, leasing or selling any property that isn’t already used for production.

NeCN, a non-profit stakeholder group focused on economic development that represents more than a dozen communities in the Cochrane District, is compiling a database that includes a list of parcels and owner contact information.

Property owners can supply their names and land details privately and their information will be kept confidential.

In the event a potential investor is interested, the municipal office can get in touch and make an introduction.

“The end result of this is that it will be a tool available at municipal town halls for the staff to be able to answer these questions,” said Matko, who chairs NeCN.

“It’s not something that’s going to be given out to everybody.”

Stretching across 180,000 square kilometres between Ontario and Québec, the Clay Belt has historically been robust beef-farming territory, but hosts cash crops as well.

With land prices skyrocketing in other parts of the country, the area has been eyed by producers from southern Ontario, Québec and even the U.S. as a more affordable option for farming.

Matko said most requests he’s fielded are from people seeking a minimum of 1,000 acres, which is difficult to find since most parcels in the area comprise 150 to 300 acres.

But, with a greater inventory to choose from, he expects it will be easier to piece together land packages that meet the requirements of investors.

“We may end up with a patchwork of available lands, but at least it’s something, because on the private side, there’s not really much data,” he said.

“We have all the data for the Crown land – that’s not hard to get – but again, it’s Crown land. So if an investor wants a part of that, they have to deal with the government.”

First underway in 2018, the land assembly project initially planned to gather ownership data through the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC). But mindful of privacy issues, NeCN scrapped that plan and went back to the drawing board, Matko said.

Now, the organization is taking a more discretionary approach, asking landowners to submit their details voluntarily via a survey.

Since first putting out the call in late June, Matko said they’ve received a little more than 100 respondents, a welcome return to kick off the process, although there’s still more work to be done.

“We’re at the very beginning of putting the database together of available lands,” he said.

There’s no deadline for landowners to participate, and, recognizing that circumstances change, Matko said they can change their mind at any time.

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Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company

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NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”

Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.

Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.

In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.

The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets mixed

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.

The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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S&P/TSX up more than 200 points, U.S. markets also higher

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.

The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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