Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

The last half of 2012 was busy for me, even took on custom combining to give me an extra reason to run home fast from the factory.  And although the crops turned out good, the markets are favourable, it was still a tough year.  

My appeal (Detail in a prior Blog) to have my farm land taxed at the farm rate came, and the decision made, NO you don't get the farm tax rate, you get to pay 400% of that rate.  Reason, I missed a deadline to apply for a seven digit number from a farm organization that I was entitled to quit with a full refund after joining.  Sounds ridiculous, but that is the system in Ontario.  I had to deal with more government agencies that I ever knew existed all of which claimed powerless to do anything because thats how the legislation is written. That seems par for the course, nothing is set up to support a new farmer, the entire system is anti-small farm.  It shouldn't surprise me, I live in a democracy, and 98% of the voters are not farmers, so why would the government make sense to a farmer.  Its documented by lawyers, run by bureaucrats and propagated by politicians.

It goes beyond one ruling that I find hard to accept, there comes a realization that farming is a loosing situation.  I have just been too blinded by a love of the land, desire to work with nature, be self reliant and control my own fate.  Not things that a government wants and the policies speak volumes.  The reality is most people get it, the evidence is clear, there are fewer farmers every year, and an ever increasing median age.  It will take me 20yrs just to be as old as the AVERAGE farmer in Ontario.  And why would I bother?

Sure, if i am lucky I can work on the farm my whole life, re-investing every sent into equipment and land, so I get to die of heart attack or stroke while loading grain when i'm in my 90's.  Well, maybe I will be a bit loose with my money and drive a Cadillac in those latter years, that should make up for these hard years at the start.  

The general feeling I get from comments on media sites regarding farmers is we are all rich and living a life of luxury on the backs of the tax payer.  Its likely my fault I never applied to any of these "supposed" money hand out programs, i just wanted to farm without the government running the show...big mistake, they are going to find there way in anyhow.  Of course these checks will have far fewer digits than I am lead to believe by those who know nothing at all about agriculture.

But things are good, the land re-assesment shows that my purchase of farm land has had a 220% increase over the two years I've owned it.  (I can just see how low next years tax bill will be).

So I have a real important decision to make, do I pack it in, move to the big city with that high paying Engineering job, live in a comfortable house, where my garbage is picked up at the curb, I can get anything delivered to the house, reduce my snow shovelling to a short section of sidewalk or pay higher taxes to work a second job, live on a dirty poorly maintained gravel road knowing that every dollar i make will be spent to make sure I get to work more.

Its no wonder there are so few young farmers.

There is another side to this.

When I slowly drive down the road and meet a neighbour, we roll down our window and have a chat, blocking the road in both directions.  And we do this until another car comes by.  I could just imagine how many people would call the police if they saw this take place on a Toronto side street.  Theres those friendly conversations with fellow farmers, truck drivers, and friends that take place on the side walks by the bank or in the parking lot at the beer store.  And then there are the suppliers of seed and fertilizers who stop by to offer a drink, or take me out for a free lunch (granted I seem to always spend lots of money at those "free" lunches), these people are nothing like the government. They want to see me succeed, and for that matter so do the old farmers, who almost leave the impression that they are rooting for me.  

When I was young I once heard: This country doesn't succeed because of its government.  It succeeds in spite of it.

I think I am starting to understand what was meant.  At least now I know its not just bad weather that can cause me problems, that is the least of my issues.

It wasn't a hard decision.  This farmer plans to succeed in spite of all this.  I may have made the wrong decision, but somebody has to grow the food, and I look forward to doing it for a very long time.

Views: 611

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Comment by Joe Dales on January 11, 2013 at 5:56am

Hi Gus,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings about getting started farming.

Every situation is a little different but I think most farmers have had to struggle through the early years.

From a big picture perspective:  we do need young farmers as the older generation decides they have had enough so the potential is there.  The barriers to entry are significant, capital requirements, knowledge and experience required, government redtape...long days, market risk, weather....

 

I hope you generate enough satisfaction and financial returns that allow you to make your passion of farming a viable and sustainable profession and life.  Keep up the good fight.

 

Take care and I really enjoy reading your blog.

 

Joe Dales

Farms.com

joe.dales@farms.com

877 438-5729 x5013

 

Comment by Iain Robson on January 11, 2013 at 12:08am

Great post Gus.

I am transitioning into farming, so I can relate to the debate that you talked about. I mean I could easily just stay in the city and live the good life or I can live and the country and live the hard life. For some, it is a an easy decision, but for those few who want to try do something like farming, the decision becomes harder.

I really appreciate your perspective because you are a new farmer. It provides some great insight into the types of things you would have to deal with in that particular situation. 

How long did it take you to actually get the money and buy a farm?

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

GIFS at USask is striving to be the world’s preferred partner for agriculture and food innovation

At the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask), ambition meets action. Across our diverse operations, our team has developed unique capabilities to support impactful research and development. From genomics to biomanufacturing to data analytics and more, our strengths place us among a select group of global institutions equipped to drive innovation at scale. Today, we are the only organization in Canada with the expertise, capabilities, and unique model to enable partnerships with both public- and private-sector organizations from discovery through to delivery, accelerating innovation at every stage. Based in Saskatchewan — the heart of Western Canada and the largest producer of field crops in Canada — we’re strategically positioned to collaborate with global partners and deliver scalable, impactful solutions. “Our ambition is to be the preferred partner for ag and food innovation — not just here, but globally — and we are global. We’re b

Crop Report for the Period October 7 to October 13, 2025

Producers made solid harvest progress on remaining crop acres and got plenty of other field work done last week, before rain and snowfall on the weekend halted operations in many areas. Producers are hoping to get back in the field prior to winter to harvest the few remaining crop acres and finish field work. Provincially, harvest is 98 per cent complete. Most crop is off in the west-central and northeast regions as progress sits at 99 per cent, followed by the southeast and northwest at 98 per cent and the southwest and east-central at 97 per cent. Although most producers have finished harvest, some have a small amount of oilseed, chickpea and canary seed crops remaining in the field. For oilseed crops, canola is 98 per cent harvested, mustard is 95 per cent, flax is 87 per cent and soybeans are 83 per cent harvested. For the other small acreage crops, canary seed is 92 per cent harvested and chickpeas are 88 per cent harvested. All other pulse, spring cereal and winter cereal cro

Grain deliveries by Canada's two major railways strong in Week 10: Ag Transport Coalition

Week 10 saw system performance improve slightly for a fifth consecutive week with CN and CPKC Rail combined supplying 93% of hopper cars ordered, an improvement from the 92% order fulfillment performance seen in week 9. System performance remains above the 90% threshold for the second consecutive week.  That's according to the Ag Transport Coalition. In supplying 96% of cars ordered by shippers in week 10, CN saw performance improve from the 92% order fulfillment performance in week 9.  CN performance has now been above the 90% threshold for two straight weeks having improved performance for five straight weeks.  CPKC saw performance decline slightly, with the railway supplying 91% of cars ordered by shippers, down slightly from the 93% order fulfillment performance seen in week 9.  CPKC remains above the 90% performance threshold for a second straight week.

Wheat and canola ending stocks unchanged over past month: AAFC

Updated supply/demand estimates from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, released Oct. 17, included only minor adjustments to the balance sheets for the country’s major grains and oilseeds. Projected 2025/26 ending stocks for wheat and canola were left unchanged from the September report, at 5.2 million and 2.5 million tonnes respectively.  That would compare with wheat ending stocks in 2024/25 of 4.112 million and canola carryout of 1.597 million tonnes. The projected usage numbers for canola were left unchanged, with exports forecast at 7 million tonnes and domestic usage at 12.226 million tonnes.  If realized, exports would be down by 25 per cent from 2024/25, while domestic usage would increase by 4.8 per cent. Projected wheat exports were raised to 27.4 million tonnes, from 27 million in September.  However, that would still be down by 6.2 per cent from 2024/25.  Wheat domestic usage was down by 400,000 tonnes from September, at 8.241 million tonnes.  That compares with 7.96

Alberta harvest all but complete: crop report

Alberta’s crop harvest is virtually complete, but crop quality is a concern as the growing season comes to a close. The province’s agriculture department reported 99.4 per cent of Alberta’s major crops were combined as of Oct. 14, 3.1 points more than in the previous week, compared to the five-year average of 97 per cent and the 10-year average of 83 per cent.  The northwest region’s harvest was 100 per cent complete, while the central region was at 98.9 per cent.  All other regions were within one point of finishing operations. The harvests for all major crops were either completion or less than a point away from completion, except for canola at 98.5 per cent. Despite recent rain and snowfall in some areas, the added moisture wasn’t enough to improve fall-seeded crop quality province-wide. 

© 2025   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service