Farming in the Rainy River region is still a strong industry, and with the rise in locally-produced food, the future could be brighter, if government is serious about supporting it.
Kim Jo Bliss, a longtime farmer and The Emo Agricultural Research Station manager, said farming is becoming more diversified in the region.
Young people getting into farming now are treating it like a business. She said they want a job where they can work steady hours, be close to home and be in the house when the children get home from school.
“I quite appreciate these young people, that they are doing this so they are not working two jobs,” she said. “I don't think this is easy, there are challenges every day, but they are making it work.”
Eight years ago, local food was a hot topic. Now, she said, people are actively seeking out local food more often.
“That's a big positive on both sides of the spectrum,” she said. “People are becoming more aware of the importance of a farmer.”
That was around the time the Rainy River District Regional Abattoir opened its doors. Since then, she said they've had to jump over a lot of hurdles to keep it running, from both government regulation and local mindsets.
One big challenge is a lot of beef farmers still don't want to market their own meat, she said. Even with an abattoir and sales barn, many are still opting to sell their meat to distributors.
Another is the high tax base it is are in. Currently, they are classed as industrial, which puts them in the highest tax base. To combat this, they are working on many options, including working with The Ontario Federation of Agriculture to get abattoirs a different classification to get more reasonable tax rates.
Crop numbers have risen and beef numbers remain static, and some of it has been beef farmers clearing land to grow crops as another source of income.
“Sometimes it feels like we are reinventing the wheel when we start looking at thing like 'green' manure, which is what they did before commercial fertilizer,” she said. “We feel like we are redoing things, but that's part of life.”
Having food less traveled, she said, is becoming a popular trend. Part of it is putting a face on the food they are purchasing. She related shopping at a local farmer's market with a friend, and talking with the producers selling really helps people understand the local agriculture and who they are supporting.
There has been a lot of land activity and purchasing in the area. She said about seven people from southern Ontario purchase land and farm it. The New Gold Rainy River gold mine, 65 kilometres northwest of Fort Frances, has also meant more activity and land prices have increased.
Much of the farm activity is still in the northeast of the province, however. She said she can understand why the clay belt, which starts at the Ontario/Quebec border at New Liskeard and runs west to Hearst, is still a preferred area for farm development. It's closer to large population centres like Toronto.
One of the biggest concerns for young people moving to northwestern Ontario to farm is the distance from southern Ontario, where many of them have families.
“It's not like you can go home for the weekend,” she said. “But there is still a lot of activity in Rainy River. Once they get here, they are our people.”
What is being grown is also changing. At the Emo Agricultural Research Station, they started a hops yard last year to test if the key ingredient in beer making can be grown effectively in the north.
Much of that, she said, is being driven by the proliferation of microbreweries. Many of the ones in northern communities are interested in having a local supplier.
“It will be my first spring (with growing hops), but I'm interested,” she said. “there's talk of that in Rainy River. There are successful ones in Kenora, and in Thunder Bay, and just across the border in Minnesota.”
Since they established the yard. Many people have come to look at it, and said they are anxious to see what happens.
They are also working on growing malting barley strains.
In a throwback to the past, they are also growing a strain of dry bean. Bliss said she did some research and in the 1930's, it was famous for producing award-winning high-protein edible beans.
Thanks to drainage projects, she said farmers have more crop options. The station is trying to see what can be grown in the climate and do outreach to encourage farmers to diversify, so they can have multiple high-value crops.
“People are growing soybeans and corn here, those have been very successful,” she said. “Things have changed. They used to plant grain on a rotational basis, now it's becoming a farm income.”
The region is also working on a branding and marketing campaign called Rainy River Raised. It is an initiative through the Cloverbelt Local Food Co-Op, which is an initiative by Jen Springett was an online platform to connect producers with customers. This initiative comes as more people are shopping and ordering everything from food to toiletries online. On the co-op website, members can shop, order, pay and arrange to pick up at certain place and time.
“It's neat because it is a closed order, you can only order at a certain time, so it's not like someone is clicking on your site all the time,” she said. “It's set up to be economical, you don't have to take care of it every day. It's only open Saturdays and Sundays.”
As a member, she said the co-op has been successful with connecting people, but they are having a challenge with transportation for online purchases. The districts are big, so they are working to figure out how to get products to customers.
