Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

In my previous discussion post I wrote about having access to capital or funds to leverage for more funds in order to start or expand the current operation.
On Sunday I found out that having access to money is not always the issue.
An acquaintance who farms a good 20 minutes away from our home base was contemplating what to do with his mother in-law's home farm. She current rents out the farm beside ours and no one lives in the house or uses the barn (for good reason). Through the conversation we talk about assisting beginning or young farmers. I mention - "I am interested in renting the land or buying the farm." The return comment was that I wouldn't rent the land for $xxx.00. I said - of course I would.
He said well... the current renter is really good to deal with (he rents in excess of 2000 acres and comes from god knows where and trucks all his products to somewhere else). Then I throw it back at him - so... how are we helping young people get started, such as myself or your own son, even when we are willing and able to pay the rent? (recall - the farm is right beside my dad's. No travel required). No comment. He was stuck on the current renter is a good renter (who is considered a larger cash cropper).
Maybe the next question at the local farmer meeting should be - we are asking the government to assist young farmers, what are we willing to do to help young farmers?
The government may well throw it back at us and ask - what are you doing to assist young farmers? Well... we won't let them bid for land, we won't let them rent land, we are reducing our sow herds,...

Views: 226

Replies to This Discussion

Just a thought, the current renter may be a young farmer.

Young farmers need economically viable farm operations to get involved with. These operations may be large or small. As a young farmer I have no interest in trying to start my own operation as there is much more incentive to get involved with established operations that have access to capital and the ability to leverage assets.
The current renter is well over 50 yrs young. So yeah - considering the average age of farmers is mid 50's he would be considered "young".
If it was a young farmer renting the land I would not be concerned at all.

Brett Schuyler said:
Just a thought, the current renter may be a young farmer.

Young farmers need economically viable farm operations to get involved with. These operations may be large or small. As a young farmer I have no interest in trying to start my own operation as there is much more incentive to get involved with established operations that have access to capital and the ability to leverage assets.

RSS

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Failing Grade for an Out of Touch Federal Budget

The 2024 federal budget is woefully bloated with a deficit of $40 billion dollars and yet falls short in addressing Canadian farmers’ real concerns. “Once again, the federal government has missed the opportunity to support agriculture and those that work in the industry. The real issues impacting us are the cumulative effect of the carbon tax on everything that we do, the growing need to have coordinated grain research, increased funding for the PMRA, and industry efficiency through an improved Canada Grains Act,” stated Daryl Fransoo, Chair of the Wheat Growers Association. The federal government has worked to defeat C-234, a bill that would provide immediate relief to grain farmers from the negative impact of the carbon tax on grain drying. The government fails to understand that these costs impact grain farmers and their ability to grow grain for domestic and export consumption. The government was forced to change their policy on the Advanced Payments Program and increase the int

A Message from Our Executive Director: Spring 2024

Throughout the winter, we took the opportunity to engage with many growers at various meetings and events around the province. Growers are facing many challenges heading into the 2024 growing season including significant dryness in some areas, high costs of production, and weaker prices for some major crops. We know that these factors are placing pressure on growers’ expected margins for 2024. While prices of some major crops are significantly lower since last growing season, most pulse prices have held up fairly well. Prices for green lentils, green peas, and chickpeas have been particularly strong. In addition, India has come back to the market for pea imports after a hiatus since 2017, which has given some support to yellow pea prices since December 2023. Current estimates are that India could import 800,000 to 1 million tonnes of peas from December 2023 to June 2024, while import restrictions there are temporarily lifted. At the same time, Canada’s largest market for yellow peas –

Mobile skills lab to promote ag manufacturing

A mobile skills lab will travel around Saskatchewan to promote careers in agriculture manufacturing. Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada (AMC) will create a virtual reality experience with the lab visiting school campuses and community events to promote industry careers to students, parents, and teachers. In addition to growing the workforce, the mobile skills lab will showcase professional development opportunities to those already working in the agricultural manufacturing industry. AMC President Donna Boyd said the industry has seen huge growth and this in turn has increased the demand for talent “A career in agriculture offers the opportunity to be one of the most successful industries in Canada—one which protects the environment, ensures global food security and fuels the future of food through innovation,” Boyd said. “AMC is directly addressing the needs of our members and our industry through the Careers in Ag initiative. The Saskatchewan Government is providing $300,000 to

Ag content lacking in the Federal Budget

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) was disappointed to see insufficient investment in Canadian agriculture in the 2024 budget. CFA President Keith Currie said farmers continue to struggle under the weight of high-interest rates, a price on carbon for essential farming activities, for which farmers have no viable alternatives, and an increased risk of extreme weather events. He said these challenges are testing the limits and effectiveness of risk management programs. “While we understand there are competing priorities for government funds, with erratic weather and high prices tremendously increasing the risk profile of Canadian agriculture, the government can ill-afford to ignore food production and Canadian farmers,” Currie said. Some positives in the budget included a re-commitment to launch of consultations on interoperability more commonly known as right to repair, carbon rebates for small businesses and previously announced funding for temporary improvements to the A

Keep it Clean launches 2024 Product Advisory

Canadian agriculture must pay attention to export market regulations, an industry rep said

© 2024   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service