Cover Story



Glyphosate-resistant weeds like giant ragweed are becoming increasingly common in Ontario, and farmers are trying a variety of strategies to deal with them. 
The experts agree on one thing: blaming bad management is too simple an answer

by MARY BAXTER

In the 1990s television series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” recurrent villains called the Borg were fond of telling the main protagonists that “resistance is futile.” The Borg, members of an inter-species collective who communicated telepathically, flew through space in a giant cube and looked like they bathed in buckets of silver paint, delivered this pronouncement with such assurance that it never failed to make the show’s central characters doubt their own resources.

by Mary Baxter


Five years ago, brothers Fred and Gerald Van Osch bought their first GPS system with the expectation that it would help improve the accuracy of field operations, such as planting and spraying.


While small farms have been declining in number and those with $500,000-plus revenues growing, the biggest drop has been in mid-range operations. Agricultural policy must take account of these trends and not lump small and large together


by Mary Baxter



Blake Vince describes himself as a small farmer within a large farm operation. The 38-year-old partners with his father Elwin and his uncle, Tom, to grow 1,400 acres of corn, soybeans and winter wheat near Merlin in Chatham-Kent.


After a major investigation by the provincial ombudsman, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation went through a major overhaul. But, say some farmers, it still inflates or miscalculates land values and it still lacks transparency



by SUSAN MANN

When Ontario Ombudsman André Marin investigated the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) four years ago, he received an avalanche of complaints.   

In fact, never in the Ombudsman office’s 30-year history had it received so many complaints in such a short time about any agency as it did about MPAC, a non-profit corporation that’s responsible for assessing and classifying properties in Ontario. (See sidebar on page 16.)

The number of claims for maternity and paternity benefits from seasonal workers is rising. And, some say, the program is open to fraud. What’s more, it puts Canada at a disadvantage with its U.S. competitor

by SUZANNE DEUTSCH

Adrian de Boer employs two foreign farm workers on his 110-acre wholesale tree nursery north of Markham and Stouffville, and in 2009 both applied for Canadian parental benefits.

While it is unusual for 100 per cent of a producer’s foreign workforce to apply for these benefits, the program has become tremendously popular.

The future of a peer-to-peer crisis support telephone line that serves Ontario’s farm community is in question. Debra Pretty-Straathof says that, despite crises within
several of the province’s agricultural sectors in recent years, calls to the toll-free Farm Line have dwindled to roughly 60 over the past six months.

“We’re not really sure why; we don’t know if it’s a resignation or – I don’t have any way of analyzing why that would be,” she says.

Spending money for a service not being used is a point of frustration. “We’re discussing with the agriculture ministry what the options would be and how to better serve the rural farm community,” says Pretty-Straathof. No decisions have been made, but closing down the service is not an option, she adds.


Farm life is often more than usually stressful. 

And for those who suffer from depression or other forms of mental illness, help is not always available and attitudes not always sympathetic. Here are the stories of some who have been struggling with this affliction

by MARY BAXTER

In the 1990s, Tom Greensides held life by the tail. As chair of the Grape Growers of Ontario, president of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and one of the pioneers of the Agricultural Adaptation Council, he was a recognized leader in Ontario’s farm community.

Some farmers are finding that the costs of connecting to three-phase power and hefty demand charges are forcing them off the grid. But ag engineers question the economics

By Don Stoneman




Unproven biodynamics, animal communications and distance healing have a place on the farm



For a small number of advocates, these alternative practices are providing solutions where others have failed. But to the debunking experts, they are just scientific nonsense

By MARY BAXTER

Bill Redelmeier first encountered biodynamics at the 85-acre Benziger Family Winery in Sonoma County, Calif. He still remembers the line Chris Benziger, one of the vineyard’s owners, opened the tour with: “What we’re going to talk about sounds like California woo-woo – but it works.”

Some producers are choosing this as the way ahead, but they caution that it is not for the faint of heart and that success depends on factors that may not be in the farmer’s control

by MARY BAXTER

For the past decade, the Aarts, who are hog producers near St. Marys, have been developing a fresh vegetable, direct marketing business. So far, selling sweet corn and other vegetables at the farm gate and at a local farmers’ market generates about one sixth of their business. Selling at the farm gate also presents a potential outlet for pork generated at their 150-sow farrow-to-finish operation near St. Marys.