Challenges come with opportunity, Niagara farmers told
By Luke Edwards
A century after Ontario farm families had to be leaders in the face of global conflict, they’re being asked to do so again as a very different kind of war is waged.
But Niagara West MPP and Minister of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness Sam Oosterhoff believes farmers in Niagara and across the province are once again up to the challenge. He evoked some of the province’s history as a reason for that optimism.
Speaking at the Niagara Federation of Agriculture’s annual general meeting last month, Oosterhoff recalled the important work Ontario and Canadian farmers did during the First and Second World Wars.
“It was Canadian farmers who really fed the war effort overseas, as they would do again, just a generation later in the Second World War. And it was Canadian farmers whose dedication, whose production, whose compassion to support the empire at that time, really put Canada on the map,” he said.
While today’s conflict is mostly being fought with tariffs and policy instead of guns and bombs, Oosterhoff said farmers will once again have to step up to the plate.
“We see that in this trade war, once again, it is to the farmers and to the agricultural sector that people are looking for leadership,” he said.
Agriculture in Ontario supports 850,000 jobs and more than $52 billion in economic impact.
“It’s an incredible testament to folks like yourselves who care for, who invest in, who are deeply motivated by community and by also growing and doing better every single year,” he said.
Despite trade wars and economic uncertainty creating fear, Oosterhoff said there are opportunities as well. He compared farming to the “ripping and shipping” method in the mining industry, where Ontario miners extract the raw materials, ship it to the United States, and then we buy the finished product back at a premium. Building capacity to refine the products - whether in mining or farming - within Ontario and Canada, is one of those big opportunities Oosterhoff sees.
“We grow commodities and we’ll ship them to the United States. And we’ll buy back the value added products,” Oosterhoff said.
“We need to change that. We need to repatriate those jobs.”
That processing capacity guarantees a local market for the farmers who grow the crops and raise the animals, he said.
Drew Spoelstra, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, likewise said processing capacity is a topic his organization is keen to improve.
“Looking for ways to add value to our products and find new opportunities to markets and expansion down the road,” he said.
At the same time, though, he acknowledged the challenges farmers are facing, such as rising fuel and fertilizer costs. While there may not be a silver bullet to solve those problems, Oosterhoff said he’ll do what he can to help.
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