Land access tools for new farmers

Access to land has always been the main obstacle for new and young farmers, and the problems have been getting worse. With rising land prices, the farm income crisis, and policies that continue to encourage consolidation, it is no wonder that generations of young people have left rural areas in pursuit of better opportunities in cities. In recent years, we have begun to see a reversal in this trend, with more and more new entrants returning to the countryside. The 2016 census saw the first uptick in young farmers since 1991.

A 2015 survey of over 1000 new farmers across Canada, conducted by the NFU Youth, found that 83 per cent of new farmer respondents did not grow up on a farm. This adds an additional layer of complexity to the land access question – new entrants are no longer primarily relying on family transfer of land. And for many aspiring farmers, the market price of agricultural land is out of reach, as are traditional financing models.

Meanwhile, the average age of farmers in Canada is now 58, and only 1 in 8 have a written succession plan. It is only a lucky few that have children interested in taking over the family farm. Clearly, innovative solutions are needed to promote intergenerational land transfer outside of the traditional family structure. We need to find new ways to connect new farmers to retiring farmers and landowners, and we need to develop new financial models for land access and transfer.

In British Columbia, Young Agrarians (www.youngagrarians.org) produced a Land Access Guide that outlines various possible land access and financing models and guides new farmers through the process of searching for land and developing comprehensive agreements that work for land owners and land seekers alike. Accompanying this guide are annotated lease and license templates. YA also runs regular land-linking workshops to network land owners and seekers and is currently developing a land matching pilot project based on Quebec’s successful L’ARTERRE land bank program.

The NFU-O is excited to announce that we have received funding from the Law Foundation of Ontario to adapt these resources and programs to serve farmers in Ontario. We are working with lawyers to update the lease and license templates and Land Access Guide and will be conducting a survey of Ontario farmers to identify how we can provide further support and education around tenure rights and other legal issues regarding land transfer. Keep an eye on our e-news for the survey link.

We will be engaging in community outreach projects to ensure that these resources get into the hands of those who need them. The first of a series of workshops will be held on March 1 at the NFU-O convention in Belleville (see our website for more details).

This project is part of our ongoing work to protect farmland and promote land access and succession planning for farmers in Ontario. To support this work, please join the NFU-O.