Agriculture industry sets sights on the unused fields of northern Ontario

When Carl Dodds is working hard cutting down trees on his land north of Cochrane, he tries not to think about whether what he wants to replace the forest with will grow.

"You don't think of that, but it's always in your mind," says the 43-year-old father of five. 

"You do your best. You hope it grows."

Dodds, who has 150 acres in the hamlet of Clute, was one of the northern Ontario farmers who received federal funding to clear land and tile drain it.

His family has been on this land since 1916 keeping beef cattle, but currently only about 13 acres of the 150 acres are cultivated. 

He has started planting oats, clover and wheat and can see a day when all of his land is planted with cash crops.

Dodds remembers his grandfather telling him that at one point every farm in this area had a family living on it. Today, the fields are dotted with ruins of barns and farmhouses.

But he says farmers from the south have started to move in and like him are "attempting" to grow grains north of Highway 11.

It's just one small example of how more of northern Ontario is being seen as farmland.

There are 1.3 million acres of agricultural land in the region, only 817,000 of which is actually used.

And it's estimated that hundreds of thousands of acres of good soil is laying beneath boreal forest.

High land prices in southern Ontario are also driving everyone from big corporate farming operations to old order Mennonite families to the north.

Joelle Faulkner is the CEO of Area One Farms, a company that partners with individual farmers to get their operations up and running.

She never thought they would be working in northern Ontario, but got interested in reclaiming underused farmland in the Temiskaming and Cochrane districts a few years ago.

"I think northern Ontario is one of the biggest potential places for agriculture growth in Canada. You do have tons of rain, the infrastructure is great, you're close to markets," Faulkner says.

She says compared to farmland in western Canada, northern Ontario is "not necessarily cheaper, but potentially more productive" due to good rainfall numbers in this region.

Faulkner says how quickly unused fields and forested areas will be developed, depends on market conditions that farmers and governments can do little about.

"I think over time it'll get there," she says.

Ron Bonnett, a cattle producer in the Bruce Mines area who was president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture for 9 years, says land prices in some parts of the north have doubled in the last 10 years, but are still well below what farmers would pay in the south. 

He says he's seen a change in attitude in northern Ontario politicians, who now also think farming when trying to boost the economy.

"Sometimes in northern Ontario it was always easier to go into the mines or into the bush to make a living," says Bonnett.

"It's starting to change. It's slow."

On top of its regular menu of agricultural incentives, the Ontario government is also looking at selling some of its land to farmers

Agriculture minister Ernie Hardeman says discussions are underway between his ministry and the Ministry of Natural Resources to develop a process for releasing Crown land to be farmed.

He says no decisions have been made yet, but says the province wants to ensure that everyone from loggers to hunters is consulted about forest giving way to farm fields.

"To make sure we're still protecting the environment and the natural resources that are in the north," says Hardeman.

"Obviously Crown lands belong to the people of Ontario and they need to be assured we're making the best use of the property."