Land-Linking - NFUOntario
17Feb’22
In 2018, the NFU-O was awarded a grant through the Greenbelt Expansion Consultation Fund to help us promote engagement with the Government of Ontario’s current public consultations on the Greenbelt. You can read the 2018 NFU-O submission to the public consultation here.
These consultations were about the potential expansion of Ontario’s Greenbelt to protect more farmland and natural features and especially to protect critical water sources from development and climate change.
In 2021, the NFU-O was awarded a grant of the same nature to consult with farmers across the province, mobilize them to participate in the provincial consultation process as farmers (and via groups and organizations), and to produce a high-quality and well-researched public response to proposed Greenbelt Expansion (ERO-019-3136). You can read the 2021 NFU-O submission to the public consultation here.
Is there an official NFU-O position on the Greenbelt?
The NFU-O, regionally and at the Local level, has made a number of statements supporting the Greenbelt and appropriate farmland protection in the past.
Our specific approach to policy on this issue will—as always—be based on input from our Locals and our grassroots membership.
The NFU-O collected input from our membership via Local meetings, direct conversations, surveys, and discussions at Regional Convention, and we prepared a province-level submission to the government, advocating for specific outcomes based on your input. We also continue to advocate for sustainable farmer-friendly policy on the Greenbelt (and in general!).
Our previous discussions have identified some general positions to guide our approach to this consultation process, including:
- Expansion of the Greenbelt is a critical step to ensure food security, farmland protection, and safe and adequate water supplies.
- Greenbelt expansion is needed both to mitigate climate change and to cope with future disruptions to food and water.
- Protection of the land and water is a responsibility of all people in Ontario, farmers and eaters, rural people and urban people.
- Indigenous people must be consulted about new developments on their traditional lands, and public policy must take into account their historic role as protectors and stewards of the land.
Greenbelt protections can also help to address other issues like skyrocketing farmland prices.
08Feb’22
In January 2020, the NFU-O in collaboration with the Ontario Farmland Trust (OFT) piloted five succession planning workshops across Eastern Ontario, which made a few things abundantly clear:
- 1. Farmers are searching for successors outside of their family;
- 2. Farmers want to be an active player in their farm’s succession;
- 3. Certain areas of the province are being more heavily impacted by the farmland succession crisis;
- 4. Farmers want to know more about farmland loss and conservation; and
- 5. Young and new farmers cannot access land.
New and young farmers are critical to maintaining Ontario’s agricultural prosperity and land access is the #1 challenge in between the next generation of farmers and their dreams. And with farmland prices skyrocketing across the province, and with less than 10% family farms equipped with a succession plan, the risk of farmland being gobbled up by developers is an ever present threat.
Our land-linking workshops started as a way to bring people with land (“land-holders”) together with people looking for land (“land-seekers”) and to explore what it means to share land to grow food. As the series has grown, the workshops have become a means to support farmers in the start-up and throughout their careers, and serve as resources to help farmers get on the land. With thanks to the McLean Foundation and the Gosling Foundation, the NFU-O and the OFT have now held 10 workshops, on a variety of topics, some of which you can watch recordings of below:
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Land-Linking Workshop Series: Farm Financing & Business Planning
This is a recording of the third workshop in our 3-part Land-Linking & Farmland Conservation workshop series this fall, co-hosted by the National Farmer Union - Ontario and the Ontario Farmland Trust.
In this workshop, our 2 panelist will teach you how to finance a farm and what makes a successful business plan.
PANELISTS
Sally Miller (MA/ PhD; MES), is the Project Manager for the Fair Finance Fund (https://www.fairfinancefund.org/). She has worked in food and agriculture and co-ops for over twenty-five years, including the Local Food and Farm Co-ops, Ontario Natural Food Co-op, Organic Meadow, Fourth Pig Worker Co-op, West End Food Co-op, and Finger Lakes Organic Growers’ Co-op (U.S.). She has sat as Treasurer and Director on various Boards. Publications include Edible Action: Food Activism and Alternative Economics (Fernwood 2008); and Belongings: The Fight for Land and Food (Fernwood 2016) and numerous research reports.
Isabelle Rodé is the owner and operator of Vintage Soil Farm (https://www.vintagesoilfarm.com/). Isabelle spent 6 years working on a variety of organic farms, in Ontario, BC and Quebec, before starting Vintage Soil Farm this past year. Vintage Soil, currently located on rented land in the Ottawa Valley, uses draft power in the field and adheres to the organic certification standard for all their growing. -
Land-Linking Workshop Series: Land Partnerships & Collaboration
This is a recording of the second workshop in our 3-part Land-Linking & Farmland Conservation workshop series this fall, co-hosted by the National Farmer Union - Ontario and the Ontario Farmland Trust.
Farmland access is one of the biggest challenges facing new and young farmers. Increasingly, new farmers are partnering with established farmers to access land and create partnerships.
In this workshop, we’ll hear from 3 farmers as they discuss how they navigated their successful land partnerships, including tips on what to look for in a land partner, how to make a partnership, and advice for people who want to do the same!
PANELISTS
Angie Koch - Fertile Ground CSA (https://www.fertilegroundcsa.com/)
Fertile Ground is a small, organic farm just west of Waterloo - we produce vegetables and eggs for our 350 member CSA as well as a few local restaurants, retail shops and food bank organizations.
Tom Robson - Meat and Potatoes Farm (https://www.meatandpotatoes.farm/home)
Meat and Potatoes Farm produces calorie-dense vegetables (potatoes and friends) with as much human power, muscle and heart (read: meat) as we can muster.
Rav Singh - Shade of Miti (https://www.shadeofmiti.ca/)
Miti Acres is an organic (non-certified) farm that focuses on building and using healthy soil to combat climate change. Miti Acres will help strengthen rural-urban food links and will focus on growing crops for communities that are excluded and not recognized in white-led food spaces such as farmers markets, grocery stores, etc.
To learn more about our Land-Linking work, visit our website here: https://nfuontario.ca/new/land-access-resources/ -
Land-Linking Workshop Series: BIPOC Farming Opportunities
This is a recording of the first workshop in our 3-part Land-Linking & Farmland Conservation workshop series this fall, co-hosted by the National Farmer Union - Ontario and the Ontario Farmland Trust.
In this workshop, Cheyenne Sundance speaks about ways for new BIPOC farmers to get started within agriculture. Cheyenne tells the story of how she got started farming, the barriers she faced (and her solutions!) and how she has been able to grow her business sustainably. She shares ways to get started from incubator farms, leasing, cooperative models of ownership, SPIN farming and more!
Below you'll find the links Cheyenne mentioned in her presentation:
Co-op Farms:
- Ferme Agricola (Papineauville, QC): https://fermeagricola.com/
- BeetBox Farm (Ottawa, ON): https://beetbox.ca/
- Ten Mothers Farm (Cedar Grove, NC): https://www.tenmothersfarm.com/
Incubator Farms:
- Ignatius Incubator Farm (Guelph, ON): https://ignatiusguelph.ca/ignatius-farm/acreage-rentals/
Urban/Backyard Farms
- City Beet Farm (Vancouver, BC): https://www.citybeetfarm.com/
- My Luscious Backyard (Toronto, ON): https://www.mylusciousbackyard.com/
Resources for Land-Seekers/New Farmers
-FarmLINK (website to connect land-holders and land-seekers in Canada): https://farmlink.net/
-Just Food Start-Up Farm Program (support for new farmers in the Ottawa region): https://justfood.ca/start-up-farm-program/
-Young Agrarians' Land Access Guide: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dk4z5eim9kr9o8p/landaccess-ontario-july7-sm.pdf?dl=0
Resources for Land-Holders
- Sundance Harvest Learning Resources: https://www.sundanceharvestfarm.com/learning-resources
-Template Farm Lease Agreement: https://www.farmfoodcareon.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Cropping-Lease-Agreement-Final-for-Website.pdf
Resources for BIPOC Farmers
- Q/T/BIPOC Country Living (Facebook group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/QTBIPOCsForCountryLiving
- NFU's BIPOC Working Group (Google group): https://groups.google.com/g/nfu-bipoc-working-group?pli=1
Other Organizations
- Not Our Farm: https://notourfarm.org/
- Local Food and Farm Coop: https://www.localfoodandfarm.coop/ -
Land linking 2021 Panel
This webinar is the culmination of our winter 2021 Land-linking and Farmland Conservation series, a project to address the challenges of farmland access and the demographic crisis in farming.
Find out what we've learned from our workshops with land-seeking students, youth, and with BIPOC farmers. Hear from several land-holders about their search for successors and land partners, then tell us what you want to see in the next phase of the project.
This is a joint project with the Ontario Farmland Trust; we're grateful to the McLean Foundation and the Gosling Foundation for their support.
Learn more at: https://nfuontario.ca/new/land-workshops/
Part of the NFU-O 2021 AGM/Convention.
00:00 Introduction
05:15 Student Workshops Report
07:30 BOPIC Workshop Report
09:40 Learning from Land Partnerships
10:54 Welcome Panelists
12:10 Jeremy Colbeck, Beetbox Farm
19:01 Brenda Dolling, Whole Village
26:30 John Ambrose, Swallow Haven Farm
32:40 Amber Dyck, Manitoulin Island
37:04 Mat Redsell, Mat's Fine Oils
44:58 Discussion -
Learning from Land Partnerships Webinar
Farmland access is one of the biggest challenges facing new and young farmers. Increasingly, new farmers are partnering with established farmers to access land and create partnerships. Some farmers are even forming collectives and co-ops to share the challenges of farming and land ownership. These partnerships aren't always easy, but we can learn a lot from both the challenges and the successes. We've convened three people to share their experiences with land partnerships, including tips on what to look for in a land partner, how to make a partnership, and advice for people who want to do the same.
Our exciting panelists:
Alexandra Zalucky - The Elmgrove Organic Collective is a group of small-scale farming businesses who share land and a passion for sustainable growing in Sutton, ON.
Erin Richan - Highland Gem Farm is a first-generation farm business growing vegetables and cut flowers for market and a summer CSA program in Lanark County, ON.
Mike Degange - The Black River Worker Co-op is a not-for-profit worker cooperative based in Matheson, ON, focused on reviving, developing and sharing regenerative alternatives to farming and living.
Chapters:
00:00 Introductions
07:45 Zandra Zalucky @ Elmgrove Organic Collective
18:53 Erin Richan @ Highland Gem Farm
38:30 Mike Degagne @ Black River Co-op
1:01:33 Questions and Discussion
Farmland Matching Questionnaire
Are you looking for farmland? Do you have farmland to rent? This questionnaire is for you!
The NFU-O is looking to gather information from land-holders and land-seekers that will help us identify potential farmland matches and help us understand the demographics we are serving. Click here to complete the questionnaire.
We won’t share your information without your permission.
Contact
Interested and want to know more? Contact Sunil Puri, NFU-O’s Land-Linking & Young Farmer Support Specialist at [email protected].