Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

It has been a very busy couple of weeks.  Making headway on rebuilding my grain header, want to get that out of the way so I can start on the tractors and tillage equipment.  So although I was beginning to feel like I was making progress, in steps OMAFRA.  My farm doesn't qualify for the farm tax rate.  In the past, my father had recieved an exemption from the FBR system for religious reasons.  Having taken the decision to join the system rather than appose/avoid it, i opened up a can of worms that will only cost me.  I didn't think much about government bureaucracy before, but now i just plain hate it.  

Our freedoms are being removed.  Why does it matter if someone registers with the government to be recognized as a farmer?  Shouldn't caring for the soil and harvesting crops be enough?  People were once judged by there abilities and endevours.  Now its by what license you hold, or permit you have.  It saddens me a great deal to see the results of past efforts.  Not my efforts, but those who build this system.  I am sure there was no ill intents when regulation was introduced, but the results are not a better more efficient society, but rather a society that spends its efforts in regulations and litigations.  

I guess I shouldn't be surprised to hear that children can no longer have skating events at school, because not all kids have a helmet.  Why a helmet?  Just in case someone falls down, the school needs to avoid the insurance lawsuit.  

The youth in the world have been rebelling against the old systems, specifically in the middle east.  The occupy movements are attempting the same thing over here.  They are not successful, because we have too much to loose, where in the third world they have nothing left to loose they can only gain.   I had not ever supported these protests, but I think I can now attest to the understanding that our system is stale, and something new is required.  I don't expect to see any changes soon, it will take a revolution and that won't happen until this society has been reduced to the nothing left to loose category.  I do hope it never comes to that, but sadly that means it would never be renewed.  

It makes for quite the dilemma, and I get the joy of being stuck in the middle of it.  It would have been nice to have had the support of the bureaucracy as I start to farm, but alas it becomes my enemy.  Although mother nature may not always favour me I consider that my ally.  I hope my experience is limited and other new farmers have a better experience.  But in my book OMAFRA is.....can't find a polite way to it.

Views: 836

Comment

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

Join Ontario Agriculture

Comment by Allan Mervin Spicer on February 23, 2012 at 8:14pm

Gus. Couldn't agree with you less. In order to be truly free, we , as a collective community give ups some reasons to be truly free. I lost a friend to a brain injury from a motor cycle acciden prior to he helmet law. Go Occupy Wall Street.
a.s.

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

Export Gains Support Grains as Crypto Markets Retreat

The week of November 17 to 21 brought mixed commodity trends, changing export demand, and cautious investor behavior as markets prepared for month-end adjustments.

Stats Canada releases updated 2024 farm income data

Realized net farm income fell 26 per cent in 2024

USDA's November Crop Report was neutral to bearish vs expectations for corn

The 2025 U.S. corn crop remained historically very large with key revisions pointing to slightly lower production

Technology transforms traditional family farming

Farms today are rooted in tradition, with many working hard to keep generational operations alive. But technology has become essential to soil, seed and watering processes. Farmers are balancing two eras—remembering the iron and instinct of the past while embracing how technology is reshaping successful farming. Soda Springs farmer Dan Lakey describes his experience as two different farming careers. Growing up on the Lakey Farm in the 1980s and 1990s, he spent countless hours during his teenage years pulling a cultivator behind a 300-horsepower tractor. “I didn’t enjoy it much because all I knew was the hard work,” he said. After college and time in the corporate world, Lakey returned to the family farm and found how drastically equipment and the industry had changed. Larger planters and 600-horsepower tractors have revolutionized productivity and efficiency. What once took a full crew a week now takes two people a single day. GPS-guided tractors and combines with auto-steer capa

Deere forecasts little relief for U.S. farmers

Deere & Co., the world's largest farm-equipment manufacturer, sees another difficult year ahead for the U.S. farm economy. Why it matters: America's farmers have been in a two-year slump, squeezed by rising costs, falling crop prices, tariffs and a global trade war. Zoom in: Deere on Wednesday provided its first forecast for 2026, saying it expects its business selling to large-scale farms in the U.S. and Canada to fall 15% to 20%. Row-crop farmers — like those growing corn, soybeans, and wheat — continue to face headwinds, pressuring their short-term liquidity and causing them to continue to rely on older, used equipment, the company told investors. Deere is continuing to keep production tight for large equipment in response to low demand, noting that its inventory of big tractors ended the fiscal year at the lowest unit level in over 17 years. Zoom out: "Our organization is used to managing cyclicality. But this year, we faced an additional headwind of heightened uncertainty in a

© 2025   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service