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Tag Archives farmland — page 5

The change in farm size distribution has several crucial implications.
News

Opinion: One-size-fits-all policies no longer work

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Canada’s agriculture industry has been undergoing significant changes over the past 45 years. Since the 1970s, the number of farms has been steadily declining, but not all farms have been impacted equally — mid-size farms have been hit the hardest, as the number of small and large farms increases. The mid-size farm category used to cover the majority of agricultural operations. […] Read more
Visitors walk the grounds at Ag in Motion on July 19, 2022 after taking cover from a rain shower. (Liam O’Connor photo)
Machinery

Glacier FarmMedia acquires Ag in Motion property

Show site's investors honoured as 2022 event begins

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The investors who helped secure the land that now hosts the annual Ag in Motion outdoor farm show have been given a gift that keeps on giving. At a presentation on Tuesday, the first day of the show’s 2022 in-person edition, Glacier FarmMedia — which owns the event along with this website and other farm […] Read more
The OFA says balancing the need for accessible, affordable housing with protection of agricultural land can be achieved through strong, long-term strategic land planning.
News

Calls for farmland protection intensify amid daily land losses

Recent ag census shows farmland loss has nearly doubled in the past five years

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Concern is increasing over Ontario’s rapidly depleting agricultural lands, which make up five per cent of the province’s land mass. According to the latest Census of Agriculture, Ontario’s daily farmland loss has nearly doubled since 2016, to 319 acres compared to 175 acres per day. That is the rough equivalent of losing nine farms each […] Read more
suburban development
News

Home Grown marks one-year anniversary

OFA's campaign champions the protection of agricultural land

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The Home Grown campaign underscores one unalienable truth – you cannot farm without farmland, said Peggy Brekveld. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s (OFA) advocacy and awareness campaign is now one year old, and is beginning to gain traction around responsible land planning policies that acknowledge the importance of preserving farmland to support the production of […] Read more
Soil scientist David Lobb says while research plots are necessary, we need to understand how that research extends to farms that encompass fields, fencelines, tree lines, farmyards, roads and drainage.
News

More research on variable landscapes required

While land varies widely across most farms, most research is done on uniform, relatively un-degraded plots

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Glacier FarmMedia – The variation of farmland and the practices needed to restore it mean more research needs to be done on the landscape, not just in uniform plots, says one soil scientist. “Almost all of the scientific information on which we base our understanding has been generated on near-level, non-eroded landscapes,” said David Lobb. […] Read more
The Ontario government plans to speed up the approval process for new housing developments, which could accelerate the loss of farmland.
News

Farmland at risk with new housing initiative

Accelerated approval for housing developments concerns agriculture and environmental groups

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The scene is the same in many towns and villages in Ontario, with signs growing on farmland at the edge of town signalling imminent development and loss of more farmland. Farm groups are concerned that the Ontario government has announced plans to accelerate the approval process for new housing developments.  Steve Clark, Minister for Municipal […] Read more
Parts are already in short supply in Ukraine, and farmers are stockpiling and lending and borrowing amongst themselves. (Ihor Pavliuk photo)
Crops, Machinery

Farming behind the lines in Ukraine

A Ukrainian agriculture journalist chronicles the challenges of sowing a crop during wartime

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Ukrainians will farm their land, even in the face of war. In the Kherson area of southern Ukraine, where war rages and the city of Kherson is seen by the Russian invaders as strategic, a column set out on Monday. This was a column of tractors, under the flag of Ukraine. In it were farmers […] Read more
(Dave Bedard photo)
Markets

Rate of rise in farmland value ‘surprised’ in 2021

Canada books 8.3 per cent year-over-year increase, FCC reports

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MarketsFarm — Despite a year of economic uncertainty due to extreme weather, reduced crop yields and the COVID-19 pandemic, the value of Canadian farmland rose by its highest rate in four years, according to a report from Farm Credit Canada (FCC). FCC’s report, released Monday, revealed that the national average value of farmland increased by […] Read more

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