As Ontario’s population grows, every acre of farmland is critical for community-level and regional resilience. The public is increasingly interested in knowing where their food comes from, and there is a growing commitment to supporting local and Canadian products.
However, over recent decades, significant shifts have taken place on the farming landscape in our region. The retirement of farmers in large numbers is leading to a significant reduction of land in active production. When a farm family has no successor, the land is sold to another farmer or, increasingly, to a non-farmer. These changes in farmland ownership patterns, combined with fewer new and young farmers entering the sector, are affecting the region’s capacity to grow food into the future.
An indication of the scale of this transition can be found in a few statistics: in East Central Ontario which includes Durham, Peterborough, Victoria-Kawartha, Northumberland and Hastings, over the past 30 years, the number of farm businesses has declined by 38%, the number of farmers under the age of 35 has declined by 75% and the number of farmland acres has fallen by 595,000. Meanwhile, in the 25 year period ending in 2022, the value of farmland in the area has increased by 750%.
Farms at Work is a charity that has worked to protect farmland, support growth in the farming sector and build local food systems for the past 15 years. Observing these ongoing changes in farmland ownership prompted them, with the support of the Greenbelt Foundation, to launch an initiative to connect with non-farming owners of farmland and to encourage the protection of active farm land.
Farms at Work provides education to new and non-farming owners of farmland to better understand the options and opportunities available to keep their land active in agricultural production. They are hosting one of these educational workshops on February 20th from 9am – 2pm at the Cavan Monaghan Community Centre in Millbrook.
Participants can attend in person or online, and attendees will hear about their important place in the food and farming landscape. Among the topics that will be discussed are farm business registration and property tax issues, finding and maintaining a farm tenant, farm insurance and risk management, environmental steward-ship practices to protect soil, water, and biodiversity; funding opportunities; and long-term options for the property.
In-person attendance is strongly recommended as participants will have the opportunity to connect one-on-one with organizations and presenters over lunch and at the end of the session.
For more information, contact Farms at Work at 705-743-7671 or email contact@farmsatwork.ca or visit www.farmsatwork.ca/events-2.