ODESSA - Farmers and others with a stake in the agricultural industry now have hard evidence to show the rest of society how crucial farming is to the greater community.
That was the general consensus among the audience of 60 or so area politicians, farmers and representatives from county federations of agriculture who gathered at Clow Farm Equipment here for a glimpse at the results of the latest Economic Impact of Agriculture study, done on the counties of Leeds-Grenville, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington.
To date the the University of Guelph’s School of Rural Planning and Development has done six studies on Ontario counties."We’ve never before had a tool to offer proof to people about the importance of agriculture," said Iain Gardiner, president of the Lennox & Addington Federation of Agriculture.
It was a sentiment echoed by several people following the hour-long presentation by Don Murray, one of the researchers who worked on the study with Dr. Harry Cummings.
OFA president Jack Wilkinson said the message about agriculture is becoming clearer as more studies are done around the province. He said it’s up to farmers and agricultural leaders to make sure politicians and people working in other sectors of the economy hear that message.
"At the provincial level we have to get them to appreciate just what the farming community is doing," Wilkinson told the crowd. "When bureaucrats say there are no positive spin-offs from agriculture, numbers like these are going to dispel that."
Wilkinson also talked about the "serious problems" facing agricultural producers in Ontario. He pointed out that "20 years ago" the net farm income in the province was "substantially larger" than in Quebec. Now the equation is reversed, said Wilkinson, with Quebec’s farm income on the increase, and "us going down." He added that both Alberta and Saskatchewan also show higher income numbers than Ontario.
"There needs to be more return back to the producer and more value-added jobs," Wilkinson said. "Food is the number one most important item for families. We’ve got to get people shopping locally and we’ve got to make it sexy. Get people shopping at their local market."
Dudley Shannon, president of the Frontenac Federation of Agriculture, agreed with Wilkinson and said farmers have to become more aggressive in their approach.
"Rather than sending our stuff to the local market, can we be the local market ... instead of letting a corporation handle it?" Shannon asked following Murray’s release of the study results.
When asked if people outside the agricultural sector really care about the study, Shannon admitted he wasn’t sure. But, he said, the study is one way of getting the message across.
"I don’t know that they do, but they should care," said Shannon. "The agricultural industry is so efficient. People have never had to worry about where their food comes from."
Shannon said at least one part of the study caught him by surprise. The numbers show agriculture didn’t experience the same fluctuation in employment as was seen in other sectors of the economy. Instead, it remained stable between the study years of 1991 and 1996. And while there was a 6.3 per cent decline in the number of agriculture jobs provincially, the study area showed a drop of only 1.6 per cent. Frontenac and Grenville actually recorded job gains in the agricultural sector.
"It was the stability of the industry that was a surprise to me," said Shannon. "It remained virtually stable over the last recession we came through.
"It just goes back to the fact that everybody eats every day."
Shannon said the various agencies involved in the study are working on a strategic plan designed to use the study results effectively as a lobby tool. Such a plan, he said, should include representatives from the federation of agriculture and Kingston’s Rural Affairs Committee presenting city councillors with a copy of the study. "They would gain awareness that the rural areas they’re elected to cover are still viable, are still creating jobs."
Shannon also talked about the emerging wine industry in Prince Edward County, where construction of a new winery is under way and a handful of producers are growing grapes. "Can we think up something like that?" he said, referring to the agricultural communities in the study area. "Things like value-added production."
Both Shannon and Wilkinson talked about the fact that the number of livestock farms, particularly dairy, are decreasing around the province. They agreed the trend is, in many ways, a positive one, as operations are constantly becoming more efficient.
"We see the number of farms decreasing in our area," said Shannon. "The farms that are left are becoming more productive - more beef per acre, more bushels of corn per acre. In general corn production is increasing three per cent every year."
According to the study results the number of farms locally actually grew by four per cent from 1991 to 1996. An executive summary highlighting the findings says the growth is due to a "large increase" in "specialty-type" farms. A list of such operations includes nurseries, greenhouses, sheep, horses, apiaries, fur farms and maple syrup production.
A number of Liberal politicians, including Kingston and the Islands MP Peter Milliken, gave their support to the study. "This is the kind of study that raises the importance of agriculture," said Milliken, pointing out that he’s never claimed to be "an expert on farm policy.
"We have to try and get the public aware of the importance of agriculture. It’s something that urban dwellers forget at their peril," said Milliken.
The study means "more ammunition for us," said Larry McCormick, MP for Hastings-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington and head of the federal Liberals’ rural caucus. "Counties such as Lennox & Addingotn would be devastated if we lost agriculture."
Leona Dombrowsky, Liberal MPP for the same riding, focused on the section which talks about employment.
"I’m especially interested to see the number of spin-off jobs for agriculture," said Dombrowsky.
The study found that a total of 11,581 jobs, or eight per cent of the area’s total labour force, are in some way tied to agriculture, making the sector a "major force in the local economy."
Dombrowsky said that with healthy employment numbers, politicians and agricultural officials should be turning their attention to young people.
"In rural Ontario we talk about our youth leaving us," Dombrowsky told the crowd. "There is not enough focus on training people for jobs in our own communities. There needs to be some communication between the agricultural community and the colleges.
"We have to try and keep our young people in rural Ontario."
From the Archives:
AgriFocus, July 2000
