Karen Graham
Saturday was a beautiful but difficult day for Shirley Challice. After recently losing her husbandof many years, Shirley was parting with some of her personal belongings in an auction on the farm she and Roger where they had raised their family, paring down in preparation for a new phase in her life. The home, the contents for sale and the method of disposition reflected a love of tradition and respect for the past. The historic home build in 1915 sits on 100 acres of farmland has been the Challice home for 33 years and the farm land has been used by son-in-law, Steve Brackenridge of Squirrel Creek Farm Services.
Friends, family and neighbors pore over a lifetime of memories at the Challice auction last Saturday. Photo: Karen Graham.
In many ways it was a true community event. The Lions’ Club trailer was on hand offering refreshments, neighbours, friends and family chatted on the lawn while eager bidders lined up in front of the auctioneer waiting for the item they coveted to come up for sale. Even the auction itself was communal: some neighbours had put items of their own into the sale. The property is also for sale, as Shirley plans to build on a lot just down the street, and the auctioneer encouraged interested parties to identify themselves to get more information, but the property remains on the market today.
Auctioneer Keith Monk began the action with small houseware items on the porch, letting anticipation build far the sale of the larger farm items. Photo: Karen Graham.
Attracting new, young farmers has been on the minds of policy makers for several years. With an average age of 54, Ontario farmers are aging and fewer young people are entering the industry. The province has been searching for ways to maintain our agricultural base and encourage new entrants to replace retiring farmers, particularly with the rise in demand for locally-produced food. Funded by Ontario Trillium Foundations’ Future Fund, Farms at Work is a local organization striving to help new farmers join the agricultural community by offeringnew entrants training and education, helping them find and finance farm purchases and connecting new farm buyers with retiring farmers. FarmStart is another non-profit organization in Guelph also offering support to new entrants. However after working for more than ten years trying to help launch a new generation of farmers,FarmStart has accepted 51 applicants into the program, only two of whom have started their own farms.
Programs like these do not address the biggest barrier to new entrants, which is cash. While most full time farmers rent some of the land they work, they usually operate on a base they own to add some measure of stability to a very cyclical business. Productive land is expensive and so is the equipment. Despite or perhaps because of current low interest rates, farm debt in Canadacontinues to set records. According to Stats Canada, while the number of farms continues to fall,farm debt has climbed every year since 1993. In Canada farm debt has tripled over the past 20 years, and in Ontario, it has quadrupled. These debt levels have been made bankable by high priced commodities and climbing land values, but neither low rates nor high crop prices are sustainable in a cyclical industry like agriculture. If and when debt costs rise or prices fall, many will feel the squeeze.
Putting it in perspective, another former neighbour at the auction quipped that even with low financing costs, it is difficult to rationalize a $150,000 equipment purchase yielding a 1.5 to 2% return to your bankerwhen you can earn 1% by leaving the cash in the bank and sleeping in. Maybe we’ve reached the top of the market because we’ve nowreached our borrowing limits.
Modern farmers purchase land to earn a return, not to maintain a family tradition. Most of them don’t need another house and don’t want to add “landlord” to their list of responsibilities, so they evaluate the land based on its productive capacity, and at current prices, most farm purchases don’t make economic sense.
What will happen to the traditional 100 acre farms that were the foundation of this community? Young farmers who do not inherit farm properties will increasingly rely on renting land from new residents who purchase farms like the Challice property for the house and have no interest in the land except as a pastoral backdrop. In fact, after 90 days on the market, listing agents are focussing on professional buyers from Toronto to sell this farm. Despite grass root movements promoting local food produced by small operators, the economic reality makes this a pipe dream, and like it or not, this will change the social fabric of our rural communities.
Who Will Take Their Place?
(Editorial)
I’m sure I was not alone when on hearing the news that Hugh and Sondra Hoard were leaving their Cavan home of 30 years to live closer to their family in Sterling,my heart sank: this couple are pillars of our community. They have quietly and thoughtfully made their mark by working in front and behind the scenes to help those in need sometimes before the recipients realized they needed help. Discrete, proactive, humble and compassionate, the Hoards epitomize the best of Christian values. My first thought was “How can we thank them?”, and then, “How will we replace them?”
This blow arrived after we had learned of the recent passing of Wilma Bates and Barb Stevenson, two other energetic and generous community volunteers with organizations such as Community Care and the Lions. They, too, will be sorely missed.
Despite contradictory external observations, our community does not lack for volunteers, yet these recent losses will be hard felt. It is up to those of us who remain to answer the call and find a way to contribute to protect the richness of our neighbourhood. There are many opportunities depending on your interests: youth, sports, culture, heritage, and the environment are causes well represented by organizations in our community. Find one, speak up and find your place among the many who donate their time, money and imagination to make ours a special place. I’m sure you will be surprised at the rewards you will reap. The best way to honour those like Barb, Wilma, Sondra and Hugh who enriched our community is to continue in the tradition they followed, one of service. It’s almost an anachronism, but it shouldn’t be. Let’s make it happen. KG
“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” ― John Bunyan
