In January 2020 we ran a series of land-linking and farmland conservation workshops in the areas of Guelph, Ottawa, Kingston/Frontenac, Prince Edward County/Belleville, and Peterborough/Kawarthas. The National Farmers Union–Ontario organized this series in partnership with the Ontario Farmland Trust.
Thank you to everyone who attended our land-linking and farmland conservation workshops this winter! We were very excited about the enthusiastic response and the great turnout.
To our surprise, there were twice as many land-holders as land-seekers at the events, which speaks to the succession crisis in farming.
We have been reading your feedback forms, compiling your ideas, and planning our next steps.
We will be holding more workshops in the future.
To stay up to date about future workshops and events, you can follow the National Farmers Union – Ontario and the Ontario Farmland Trust on social media:
- NFU-O: Facebook / Instagram / Sign up for email newsletter
- OFT: Facebook / Instagram / Sign up for newsletter at ontariofarmlandtrust.ca
We are grateful for the support of the McLean Foundation and the Gosling Foundation in this project.
Existing resources for land-linking and new farmer support:
- Farmlink.net – a website to connect land-holders and land-seekers with a map of opportunities available across Canada.
- Land Access Guide – Including tips, suggestions, case studies, and lease and licensing templates.
- NFU Locals – The NFU-O has 22 Locals across Ontario; you can attend a meeting in your area or reach out to make face-to-face connections in your area.
- Local Food and Farm Co-ops – Resources and support to form a co-op to buy land or start a farm business
- Fair Finance Fund – Loans for farm businesses.
- Just Food Ottawa (justfood.ca) has an incubator program.
- Farms at Work (farmsatwork.ca)
- Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO.ca) has many training opportunities and workshops.