By Drew Spoelstra, Vice President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture Although economic news regularly dominates headlines these days, the economy will be of particular focus on this week’s public and media calendar. The Ontario Chamber of Commerce is hosting its annual Ontario Economic Summit in Toronto this week, and the provincial government will be releasing its annual Ontario Economic and Fiscal Review, or what we more commonly know as the Fall Economic Statement. The Summit will bring together leaders and stakeholders from the public and private sectors to network, as well as discuss and learn about the current economic landscape and solutions that could help drive prosperity, encourage innovation and investment, and address pressing issues like housing, inflation, healthcare, education and economic prosperity. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) will have representatives at the Summit, and I’ll be one of them. I’m a Vice President with the OFA, the largest general farm organization in the province, representing close to 50,000 Ontario farmers and farm families. I also farm with my family near Binbrook in the city limits of Hamilton, giving me unique perspectives into both the farming community and the intersection of urban and rural issues. Many Ontarians probably don’t know that agriculture is one of the largest sectors of the provincial economy, generating more than $47 billion in economic activity every year and supporting 750,000 jobs or about 10 percent of the province’s workforce. That makes farming and rural Ontario directly connected to most if not all major segments of the provincial economy, from transportation and manufacturing to infrastructure, education and healthcare. And that’s why, for me, this is one of the most important and interesting events to attend every year. The needs of agriculture and rural communities can be quite unique, and I find it extremely valuable to learn more about where our sector intersects with others, to explore where common goals might lie, and to engage with people and organizations representing different interests and perspectives. This year, perhaps fittingly, the theme of the Summit is partnerships for prosperity which mirrors OFA’s overall mission of Farms and Food Forever and our drive to work collaboratively with sectors, organizations and individuals who share a similar vision. The government’s Fall Economic Statement will provide a snapshot of where public finances are at, as well as serving as a kick-off to Ontario’s annual provincial budget consultations. This is where Ontarians will be able to submit their ideas to the government about what they believe should be priority spending areas for the coming provincial budget year. OFA takes part in this consultation every year, making sure that the needs and priorities of farmers and rural communities are communicated to government. We present ideas for action on both short-term, immediate issues in need of solutions, as well as recommendations for larger, longer-term challenges that have impact beyond our own stakeholder community. Sound investments in rural Ontario will enhance farming, agri-business and rural economic growth, which will spillover into the rest of the provincial economy. Investing in critical infrastructure like energy, broadband internet, roads, bridges, schools, and healthcare for our communities helps distribute economic development across the province. Access to natural gas, and reliable and affordable electricity and broadband internet is essential to keep rural Ontario competitive and productive – and appealing for families. This means long-term investments in rural roads, bridges, highspeed internet, natural gas to attract new businesses and residents in rural communities. And it means social infrastructure investment in schools, healthcare and mental wellness to make rural Ontario an attractive option for families. We appreciate the critical investments the government has made in broadband services, new and updated hospital projects, and other important infrastructure. It’s essential that these projects happen quickly, and that the government continues to invest in critical infrastructure that supports rural Ontario’s residents and businesses and drives the provincial economy forward. For more information, contact: Tyler Brooks Director of Communications and Stakeholder Relations Ontario Federation of Agriculture 519-821-8883 ext. 218 [email protected]
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By Bill Groenheide, Director, Ontario Federation of Agriculture Farmers always worry about the weather impacting their crops, from drought and heat to flooding, hail, and high winds. However, there’s another aspect of nature that is also a source of damage and loss for agricultural crops – wildlife. Farmers who grow outdoor crops can lose whole fields or portions of fields and are left to deal with significant crop damage and yield loss due to wildlife. I farm just outside of Thunder Bay and for the northern Ontario farmers I represent on the board of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), crop damage and losses caused by sandhill cranes in particular are an ongoing source of frustration. These are birds that used to migrate south in the winter but are now increasingly staying put and as their populations are growing, their impact on agriculture is also on the rise. In the spring, for example, they’ll feast on newly planted seeds or nibble on freshly sprouted wheat or corn crops and some farmers have reported losing up to 30% of their planted acres to damage. A farmer’s only choice, if they want to harvest a crop in the fall, is to replant, which is both costly and without a guarantee that wildlife won’t overtake those plants and seeds too. In the fall, harvest-ready corn and soybeans are also an attraction. Birds aren’t the only challenge, though, and it’s not just farmers in the north who deal with this problem. Damage to crops can also be caused by a variety of other species, such as deer, raccoons, geese, migratory birds, and wild turkeys to name just a few. Not all farmers suffer from wildlife predation equally, but for farmers who are impacted, the damage can result in significant financial burdens. It’s not just about financial impacts, though. In addition to causing crop damage, white-tailed deer for example, also have the potential to transfer diseases, like Chronic Wasting Disease (a prion disease that affects deer, elk, reindeer and moose), to farmed populations of deer or other cervids. Farmers are also limited in the actions they can take to protect their crops from wildlife, as only certain activities are permitted under provincial legislation, and often only at certain times of the year. It’s important to mention, however, that damage and loss from wildlife isn’t just limited to crops. Predators are also attracted to livestock and poultry, and Ontario farmers are fortunate to have the Ontario Wildlife Damage Compensation Program that provides the opportunity to apply for payment for livestock or poultry that was killed or injured by wildlife. Unfortunately, there is no comparable compensation program for wildlife damage to crops. That’s why the OFA has been, and continues to advocate for, support for farmers whose crops are damaged by or lost to wildlife. This includes access to a compensation program similar to that available to livestock farmers, as well as support with respect to practical mitigation solutions and control options. The OFA is also actively involved in the Human-Wildlife Conflict Advisory Working Group, and the Agriculture-Wildlife Conflict Working Group. Wildlife damage is not easily controlled and can have significant impact on the productivity and profitability of a farm business, and fair and sustainable solutions will require the input and support from a variety of stakeholders. For more information, contact: Tyler Brooks Director of Communications and Stakeholder Relations Ontario Federation of Agriculture 519-821-8883 ext. 218 [email protected] By Jackie Kelly-Pemberton, Director, Ontario Federation of Agriculture Healthcare affects all Ontarians and regardless of where we live in this province, its services and resources are something we all depend on from time to time. The provincial healthcare system has long had its challenges but as we’ve all seen, those have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as our growing population. Those problems are common to all Ontarians, but the impacts in rural Ontario are even more acute. My family and I farm near Winchester, south of Ottawa, and although we have a wonderful clinic and smalltown hospital in our local area, we’ve always had to go to larger urban centres to access specialists, higher level testing and certain treatments, such as when I went through cancer diagnosis and treatment in the last several years. Our community has also always worked hard to ensure we support our hospital, such as coming together to fundraise for our new mammogram machine. What is happening with more alarming frequency now are rural hospitals having to temporarily – and sometimes even permanently – close their emergency rooms because of lack of staff or resources. And as rural doctors and other healthcare providers retire, it is becoming harder to attract those professionals to our rural communities, even as those communities grow and require additional resources. Although it’s not directly a farm issue, access to health care in rural areas is critical – access for us as patients to emergency rooms, staff and doctors, and for hospitals and clinics to be able to access innovation, technology and workers to properly treat residents in their service areas. Rural healthcare is also part of the bigger issue of rural economic development. Since the pandemic, more Ontarians are moving to rural areas or smaller hub communities and one of the big criteria is access to health care. For those communities themselves, the better their infrastructure, the better able they are to attract and retain healthcare professionals. Last fall, delegates at the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) annual convention passed a resolution that our organization work with other provincial health care stakeholders to urge the Ontario government to act more quickly and decisively in filling staffing gaps within the provincial health care system, and support legislation, tools, and activities to improve access to health care. Since then, OFA has written to Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones to raise awareness of the rural healthcare issue. Last winter, we focused on rural healthcare and the importance of taking steps to address its challenges during our Queen’s Park advocacy day where we met with MPPs of all parties. We communicated the urgency of labour shortages and the heightened risk to rural Ontario posed by emergency room closures. We’ve asked the provincial government to prioritize filling staffing gaps and making funding available to leverage innovation, technology and evaluate new patient care approaches and models that have been successful in other communities. We’ve also encouraged government to better support long-term care services across rural and northern Ontario by recruiting and retaining skilled labour and establishing adequate, predictable and stable direct care funding for these facilities. Current challenges aside, I do want to take this opportunity to thank the healthcare professionals in our system today. The work you do is hard but so very valuable and I can say from own experience with my cancer treatments that I received wonderful care and compassion from the medical staff charged with looking after me. We know that there is a lot to be done to support the future of our healthcare system and that healthcare is not the only priority file the government is tasked with addressing. However, as our population both grows and ages, the demands on healthcare in Ontario will only increase and our existing challenges and shortcomings will only become more acute. Government investments into rural infrastructure such as our hospitals will support the health of our communities and the sustainability of future generations of farmers. Many of the most impactful solutions take time to implement and work to their best capacities, so the time to start is now. For more information, contact: Tyler Brooks Director of Communications and Stakeholder Relations Ontario Federation of Agriculture 519-821-8883 ext. 218 [email protected] By Crispin Colvin, Vice President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture The deadline for Canadians to file their first return under Canada’s new Underused Housing Tax (UHT) is fast approaching. Originally set for April 30, the federal government extended the filing deadline this year to October 31 to give Canadians who own housing or residential dwellings enough time to complete the process for the first time. It is a one percent tax on the value of vacant or underused housing. Under the new legislation, individuals who aren’t Canadian citizens or permanent residents, as well as private corporations and partnerships – which includes farms – who own residential housing must file an Underused Housing Tax return even if they don’t have to pay the tax itself. At first glance, many may wonder how this affects farmers. Afterall, the tax was designed to address urban homes, condominiums and apartments that have been bought for investment purposes, often by foreign buyers, and are now unused or not used to their full extent. However, many farm corporations and farm partnerships own at least one farm with a residence. Canadian Farm Business Partners and Farm Corporations owning residential property are considered “affected owners”. Affected owners of residential property need to file to claim an exemption from paying the UHT or to calculate the UHT they owe. The UHT return and election form must be filed for each property owned by an affected owner in a calendar year even if the affected owner qualifies for an exemption. And regardless of whether those homes are vacant or not, the new legislation requires that farmers must now file a separate return every year by April 30 for each property a farm partner or a farm corporation owns. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), along with our national colleagues at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, has been asking the federal government to exempt farmers from having to file a return altogether, and although that first filing deadline is only a few weeks away, this is still something that we’re advocating for when we’re meeting with politicians and other government officials. So why should agriculture be exempt? Simply put, farmers aren’t in the business of being landlords or residential real estate investors. Rather, our job is to produce food and other agricultural products, and we’re buying farmland to farm it, not for investment value of a house that may be on it. The filing paperwork required by government under this legislation is onerous and time consuming. A separate return must be filed every year for each property of an affected owner. If a farm partnership has more than one partner, each partner must file their own UHT return for each property. The penalties for non-filing are substantial: up to $10,000 or more. We understand that Ontario and Canada are in a housing crisis and that governments at all levels are trying to find solutions, such as freeing up investment housing, that will help ease the shortage. We know how important this is; after all, we also need housing options to support youth, seniors, families, workers, and newcomers in our communities. However, we’re now caught in the middle of that push for solutions and the unique realities of unintentionally having multiple dwellings not because we’re housing investors but rather through the purchase of additional farmland to grow our farm businesses. OFA and our partners are continuing the push for a filing exemption for farmers but are also encouraging all farmers to make sure to file their Underused Housing Tax return to avoid the substantial penalties. There are resources available on the OFA website to give background on the issue and we encourage farmers to contact their accountants with any questions. For more information, contact: Tyler Brooks Director of Communications and Stakeholder Relations Ontario Federation of Agriculture 519-821-8883 ext. 218 [email protected] By Paul Vickers, Executive Member, Ontario Federation of Agriculture This week marks Ontario Agriculture Week. Strategically selected to be just before Thanksgiving, it’s a perfect time to celebrate the abundance of locally produced food, fuel, fibre and flowers that we are lucky enough to have easy access to here in Ontario. Nowadays, less than two percent of Canada’s population is involved in farming and the closest many of us ever get to a farm is shopping at a local farmers’ market or visiting an agri-tourism attraction near an urban area – but there’s so much more to agriculture than most Ontarians realize. Ontario farmers proudly grow and produce more than 200 different food and farm commodities from grains and meat to fresh produce, honey and maple syrup for the province, the country and the world. I’m one of those farmers – my family has a dairy farm near the Georgian Bay area town of Meaford, where we also grow corn, soybeans, wheat and hay, and sell some freezer beef. I’m also a member of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture board of directors, where I represent farmers from Grey and Bruce counties. This is a more rural region of our province, and agriculture is a major contributor to our local economy – not just the farms, but also all of the businesses and services that support what we do, from feed suppliers and trucking companies to veterinarians, bankers, and more. Agriculture matters in other parts of the province too, even in urban areas that wouldn’t at first glance feel like they might have a strong connection to what we do. That’s because Ontario’s agriculture and agri-food sector is an economic powerhouse in this province. As one of the largest economic drivers in Ontario, we contribute an estimated $47 billion to the provincial economy every year and employ more than 10 per cent of Ontario’s workforce. But farming isn’t just about jobs and the economy. It is also about housing, healthcare, environment and climate change, and food security. Let me explain what I mean. Modern technologies and new hybrid work arrangements have made many rural communities and regional hubs more accessible to urban Ontarians, offering new opportunities for families looking for increased affordability. The growth of these municipalities can relieve urban housing market pressures and offer solutions to gridlock and associated emissions concerns. Food is health. A balanced diet can go a long way to having a positive influence on human health, from fighting inflammation and metabolic syndrome to reducing the risk of conditions like cancer, heart disease or diabetes. Reducing the risk of illness or preventing people from getting sick is a key way to reduce wait times and manage ballooning healthcare costs. When it comes to environment and climate change, agriculture is one of the only sectors in the world with a built-in capacity to sequester carbon, offsetting not only its own footprint, but that of other sectors as well. Healthy farming practices – often called regenerative agriculture – and smart agri-tech innovations are in wide use on farms across Ontario. And last but certainly not least, Ontario has a remarkable ability to produce food of all kinds. The food system can be fragile, though, threatened by everything from supply chain chaos to natural disasters and world events far from home. Producing as much food as possible right here in Ontario keeps our supply chains short and nimble and protects our food security. Ontario Agriculture Week ends with the Thanksgiving holiday, and an opportunity for all of us to take a few minutes to appreciate where we live and what we have. As Ontario’s farmers, we thank all of you for supporting local food and farming, and we invite you to share the bounty of our year’s harvest this weekend as you enjoy your Thanksgiving celebrations. For more information, contact: Tyler Brooks Director of Communications and Stakeholder Relations Ontario Federation of Agriculture 519-821-8883 ext. 218 [email protected] |
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