Recent Changes in Agricultural Regions of Southern Ontario

Abstract

Southern Ontario is a peninsula shaped region bounded by Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the Ottawa River. Since southern Ontario has the most favorable combination of environmental and marketing advantages, it enjoys various types of highly productive agriculture. Since the end of World War II the majority of farms in southern Ontario have become more specialized operations.
The objective of this paper is to investigate the types of farms in southern Ontario and their principal characteristics mainly based on the observation of sample farms. Further, through the analysis of statistics and the pertinent literature, an attempt is made to explain some important features of the recent changes in the agricultural regions of southern Ontario.
Beef cattle, dairy, hog, grain corn and tobacco farms were chosen to be examined as sample farms. Production of livestock occupies a central place in the agriculture of southern Ontario and much of the crop production is for livestock feed. On livestock farms self-sufficiency of feed is a fundamental principle. Crop rotation is widely practiced and large amounts of manure along with commercial fertilizer are used to help retain soil fertility. In terms of the farm operation, the majority are run only by family members with a few instances of employment of seasonal labour. Size of farms is relatively small in Canadian terms (40 to 120 hectares) but gross sales concentrated in the 40 to 90 thousand dollar a year range are slightly above the national average.
Judging from these features, southern Ontario agriculture seems to be common to the traditional mixed farming systems of western Europe. However, farms in southern Ontario have been highly mechanized and commercialized. A large number of farms specialize in a single agricultural product.
One of the most important changes in southern Ontario agriculture is the spread of grain corn and soybeans at the expense of hay, mixed grains and oats. This means that higher yielding/higher value crops are replacing lower yielding more traditional ones. Dairy and poultry farms are doing well economically, while beef and hog operations are not.
Another change in southern Ontario is that industrialized agriculture has developed during the last thirty years. According to Troughton, “Agriculture is transformed from an activity generally carried out at a small-scale and moderate to low level of capital intensity, to one in which the major portion of production comes from a reduced number of large scale, highly capitalized units.”
In addition, part-time farmers constitute increasing proportion of all farmers. Earnings from off-farm work are now very important for many farmers. There are also many “hobby farmers”. Their interests are mainly in rural living with little effort to maximize income from the farm operation.
Lastly a process of regional specialization and diversifiation has advanced since World War II : the development of special crop regions, expansion of the corn belt and horticultural regions, and a growing contrast between the Canadian Shield and southern flat land areas.