Canadian farmland rental rates remained relatively stable in 2024, despite another significant rise in land values, according to a report from Farm Credit Canada (FCC).

Nationally, the average rent-to-price ratio, which measures the return on rented land relative to its market value, dropped slightly to 2.50%, nearly unchanged from 2.52% in 2o23. This indicates that rental rates haven't kept pace with the 9.3% increase in farmland values recorded over the previous year.

The report, which focuses on cash rental agreements, shows regional differences in rental markets across Canada. In Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, rental rates have adjusted more quickly to land value increases. Other provinces saw little to no change in rental prices.

Canadian Farmland Rental Rates Hold Steady Despite Rising Land Values: FCC

The fintech investment landscape is heating up again. After a challenging 2022 and 2023, early-stage funding is recovering, with companies focused on practical problems attracting serious investor interest. The shift is toward infrastructure, embedded finance, and AI applications that solve real workflow problems.

Sheel Mohnot has been tracking this evolution from multiple angles. As co-founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures, he's raised $300 million across three funds focused on pre-seed and seed-stage fintech companies. His perspective comes from building and exiting—he founded FeeFighters, which sold to Groupon in 2012, and ran the fintech accelerator at 500 Startups.

BTV's thesis centers on what Mohnot calls the "everything is fintech" trend—vertical SaaS companies that increasingly derive revenue from payments and financial services rather than software subscriptions. Toast exemplifies this shift, starting as restaurant point-of-sale software and now getting 83% of revenue from financial services.

Today, we'll explore why Mohnot believes fintech is back, what types of companies are getting funded in 2025, and his view on AI in fintech—where it's working and where it's just hype.

The fintech comeback: Sheel Mohnot on why 'everything is fintech' and what's getting funded in 2025

Financial institutions are drowning in payment complexity. Between legacy systems, and the accelerating pace of change in how people pay, banks face a modernization crisis that threatens their competitive position. At the FIS Emerald Conference 2025, FIS announced a partnership with Episode Six which is designed to address these challenges head-on.

Episode Six, an API-driven payments technology provider, will now be working with FIS to deliver a cloud-based, end-to-end digital payments platform. The collaboration brings together FIS's global scale and institutional relationships with Episode Six's modern, configurable payment infrastructure. The new partnership will allow FIs to scale beyond their local borders, without having to build new tech and processes from scratch.

"We did some pretty hefty research over an extended period of time," said Rob Hudson, Head of International Banking, at FIS. "It became very apparent very quickly that Episode Six was the one that we wanted to work with. This was the standout opportunity for us, without doubt."

John Mitchell, CEO and co-founder of Episode Six, emphasized the strategic nature of the partnership. "We've always envisioned that if we had a partner with the strengths and the scale of FIS, that our platform would be used in a much broader capacity," he said. "This partnership is going to enable us to present a solution that will allow all of our clients to innovate at scale."

Listen to the podcast to learn what financial executives can do to navigate legacy system constraints surprisingly well, tackle global payment complexity to expand internationally, and implement progressive modernization without putting careers on the line. It's a conversation on practical strategies for overcoming institutional resistance to change while delivering the cloud-native solutions that modern banking demands.

How FIS and Episode Six are helping FIs expand their products into new markets

Premiers Danielle Smith and Doug Ford joined Premier Scott Moe to sign onto an agreement to work together to secure a path to economic growth, opportunity and prosperity.
Learn more: https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=93657F7473E45-93F7-5D10-10FA0FF44EE49879

Pipelines MOU adds a crucial partner – July 22, 2025

Summer storms are taking their toll on Prairie crops. 
According to the Canadian Crop Hail Association, farmers across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have filed well over 1,600 crop damage claims since the start of summer. 
But is it a particularly unusual hail season so far?  
RRC's Tim Parent talks to Meteorologist David Spence about the storms we have seen.

July Hail Damage Update

Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz announce funding for new technology projects to support Alberta’s manufacturing sector.

Turning waste into economic growth - July 23, 2025

Minister of Arts, Culture and Status of Women Tanya Fir announced increased grant funding for Alberta arts. Learn more: https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=93672624B7BA4-C056-7D1F-DAB89FB9FFE483C3

Increased support for Alberta arts – July 24, 2025

Premier Danielle Smith and Transportation and Economic Corridors Minister Devin Dreeshen announced funding support for infrastructure projects in rural communities.
Learn more: https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=936829F494472-93E0-D6F4-444410D67168B823

Building stronger communities across rural Alberta - July 25, 2025

Canada's Food System believes it's time to rethink what it really takes to get food on our plates, and recognize the people and the work that goes into every bite. 

That's the goal of a new national campaign, positioning our food system as a critical part of our country's identity, economy, and future. 

Canada's Food System Aims to Show the Real Story Behind Every Bite

In this week's chat, Tim and Craig delve into Canada's Food System a new national, sector wide initiative led by Canadian Centre for Food Integrity (CCFI), which aims at elevating the conversation about what goes into producing food in our country. Executive Director Lisa Bishop-Spencer provides insight into the initiative.

We journey out to Brooks, Alberta to see the evolution of the Crop Diversification Centre - South, which is now being headed up by the County of Newell.  The County sees the facility formerly run by the Government of Alberta has an economic opportunity. The county's Director of Agricultural Services Todd Green shares his excitement about the project.  

Finally we head to Lexington, Kentucky where we talk about Ag extension with Alltech's Dr. Anne Koontz, who takes the company's fascinating research turns it into easily consumed information for the company's marketing and communication teams.  

RRC Podcast Ep. 3 - July 28 - Canada's Food System, A Unique Ag Research Platform and A Great Ag Extension

RRC strives to tell unique stories from the agriculture community that show the true roots of the industry. It will also show off new products and ideas from the ever evolving industry.

Canadian Farmland Rental Rates Hold Steady Despite Rising Land Values: FCC

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