Oxford County farmer ahead of his time receives honour

Former EZT farmer Donald Wallace Hart will be inducted into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Elora in June. (Bob Hart Photo)

Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Donald Wallace Hart may not be alive to attend his induction into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame but his memory as someone who pioneered soil management continues to live on.

Hart, who farmed in East Zorra-Tavistock, passed away in 2014 and was a leader in developing conservation tillage systems, leaving a significant and lasting impact on the quality and sustainability of Ontario farmland.

Hart’s son Bob said he feels a sense of pride with what his father accomplished and added his pivot into cash cropping couldn’t have been a better decision.

“I think it’s a tremendous honour and very well deserved. He was a leader in soil conservation and sustainable farming before sustainable farming became a common term. His father, Douglas Hart, is also in the Hall of Fame for his work in the dairy industry. My dad started as a dairy farm and hated it so he went into beef feedlot operator before starting with cash crops.”

Hart graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College in 1953 and in the 1960s, observed soil degradation caused by monoculture corn crops and moldboard plow tillage. Driven by this concern, he sought out like-minded individuals to find solutions. This group, informally known as the Oxford Group, became leaders in soil conservation in Oxford County and across the province.

“He was always willing to dry new and different things. He recognized that planting corn year after year after year monoculture corn was causing problems and he wanted to do something about it. The group of them were looking for ways to do better,” explained Bob.

Recognizing the benefits of leaving crop residue on the surface to reduce soil erosion and build organic matter, he brought the concept back to Ontario, claiming to have performed the province's first chisel plowing on his farm.

Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Hart was a sought-after speaker at farm meetings across Ontario, consistently encouraging farmers to explore new methods for improving the long-term health and productivity of their soil.

“He hosted a lot of government-type people and talked about what he was doing and why he was doing it. He really enjoyed working with young farmers who had questions and were sincerely interested dad always had time to talk, give different views and put some different options out there.”

Bob followed in his father’s footsteps and farmed full-time until about 12 years ago.

“My brother and I had started a business called a seed business called Agworks. We merged with another company to form Sevita International so I ended up working full-time there and Doug carried on farming. His sons farm and my boys work at Sevita.”

Hart’s farm was located at the current Sevita, north of Woodstock on Highway 59.

“He was a humble guy. He was never one to jump into the limelight but he was always happy to share if somebody was interested. He was very concerned about the long-term viability of cash crop farming in Ontario. I think he absolutely made a difference. ”

Bob added chisel plowing became one of the main practices for a long time in the province.

“Maybe not so much anymore, it’s kind of moved on a little bit. But it was the big thing for a long time and he was largely responsible for getting it going.”

Hart and two other deserving farmers will be inducted at a ceremony on Sunday, June 5 at the GrandWay Events Centre in Elora. More information is available at www.oahf.on.ca.

The organization’s mission is to acknowledge, record and preserve the contributions made by leaders to the growth and development of Ontario’s agriculture and agri-food industry. To date, 262 people have been inducted.