Access to farmland for first generation farmers is not easy in Ontario. 

By now most of us have heard the data many times before: Ontario loses thousands of farmers each year, and thousands of acres of farmland to other uses. Both are important issues, but to me it’s actually the loss of farmers that is a more devastating crisis and the real driver behind the loss of farmland. 

As some readers may recall, The Rural Voice ran a series written by Mel Luymes last year which looked at various new farmers’ experiences on unique land tenure arrangements. The series included Amy Stein’s creative limited partnership model with the Luna Mia farm as well as the R.O.S.E. land trust and New Moon farm. The issue remains relevant today and is complex enough to fill many books. One such thought-provoking book on the topic is Belongings: The Fight for Land and Food by Sally Miller, who went on to co-found the Fair Finance Fund (another article in that series).

Miller traces the bind we find ourselves in Ontario to three primary issues: 

• farmers cannot afford to farm without heavy debt loads; 
• they often depend on selling their land to pay off these debts and/or retire; 
• new farmers cannot afford to purchase land they need at the start of their careers. 

Therefore, it isn’t surprising that we see a declining number of people farming. Miller’s arguments focus on the importance of how we could choose to value land use instead of land as only a way to earn profit.

There is no easy way to determine land-use priorities, however. This has been made clear by the various conflicts between permitted and not permitted on-farm diversified uses, farmland protection, and conservation regulations. After all, ecological preservation is critically important, but it is equally important that conservationists are fed, and presumably, farmers require both land to farm and shelter to live in.

There are practical concerns to improving land access for new farmers through different land-use models. For example, although land trusts remove farmland from short-term speculation, they may not provide future equity in the land or buildings which makes retirement a difficult prospect for farmers.

There are a few ways to approach these issues. Perhaps if we look at things a bit differently, as Miller suggests, we already have the seeds for change, we just need to water them.

Like Miller, (and Wes Jackson of the Land Institute) I agree that more “eyes on acres” is a good thing. More people farming means rural economies have a better chance to achieve stable populations and a diversity of job and business opportunities (and it benefits municipal governments too). 

Part of the challenge is that we see public and private as polar opposites despite the fact these lines are blurred often. Abstract theories of economics (one buyer and seller, both with perfect information) or of politics (state control versus individual freedom) won’t do. 

Miller argues that when people believe they need to be organized by some outside authority, it reinforces the worldview that power must come from above and not from within communities and individuals themselves. Usually our issues are far more about who has the power, and how that power is used.

In reality, farmers often work outside of the system, to barter and share resources without monetary exchange. I have witnessed this on my own family’s farm. Recognizing this could open the door to thinking differently about farmland.

In other words, it is not just state-owned versus individual free enterprise. Public good doesn’t mean unprofitable; a farmer could benefit financially from healthy pollinator populations (while contributing to the health of the ecosystem). A co-operative can uphold certain democratic decision-making ideals, while also seeking profit and so on. 

However, it is also a good reminder that money is not the source of value in itself. I mean, we can’t eat it! 
But, will future generations want to do the difficult work of farming? 

Well, a few years after graduating university, I found myself working alongside some friends and generous community members in developing a not-for-profit urban farm in the east end of London (urbanrootslondon.ca). 

I learned a lot during the seven years I spent with the organization (a story for another day), but one of the most important things I learned is that there is no shortage of young people who are interested in doing the hard but rewarding work of farming, if only they had access to do so. Maybe if we noticed the ways in which farming always requires sharing of all kinds (social, economic, ecological) as well as markets of exchange we might start to see farming (and thus farmland) as more than just a dollar sign.   ◊