Ontario losing productive farmland at alarming rate

Dec 07, 2022

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is reaching out to the public, asking for them to support a campaign to raise awareness about disappearing agricultural land in the province.

The OFA’s Home Grown campaign has collected more than 55,000 signatures.

According to the 2021 Canadian Census of Agriculture, since 2016 the number of farms in Ontario has decreased 2.5 per cent to 48,346, and the total farm area has decreased by 4.7 per cent to 11,766,071 acres.

A news release from the OFA points out that approximately five per cent of Ontario’s land is considered arable.

Jackie Kelly-Pemberton is the Zone 11 director on the OFA’s board of directors. She represents the counties of Dundas, Frontenac and Leeds and Grenville and farms cattle, hay and cash crops with her husband in Winchester, south of Ottawa.

“We’re losing an average of 319 acres of productive farmland every day,” Kelly-Pemberton told the Whig-Standard in a phone interview on the weekend. “When you lose these lands to urban homes or parking lots, they will not ever return (to being farmland).”

Source : Thewhig.com

Video: Syngenta Ag Stories - Reanna Hagel, Channel Marketing Manager

Growing up on a cow-calf operation and small feedlot near Lumby, BC, Reanna learned agriculture the hands-on way with her sister on the family farm. Today, as Channel Marketing Manager for Syngenta Canada, what Reanna loves most about her work is simple: the customer is always at the centre. Whether that's a grower or a channel partner, she understands them on a personal level - because she's the daughter of one. But for Reanna, supporting ag doesn't stop at her job. She volunteers with local 4-H clubs, lends a hand to her farming neighbours, and is raising her own kids to understand and respect the land. Her advice to the next generation? "It's an amazing time to be in the industry - it's going to look completely different in 20 years. To be part of the evolution is very exciting."