New program supports new approaches in northern Ontario farming

Monday, October 6, 2014

by JIM ALGIE

You couldn’t call it conventional agriculture, but Trevor and Tracy Laing’s Algoma Highlands Wild Blueberry Farm near Wawa north of Sault Ste. Marie harvested 40,000 lb. of fruit this year.

Now in its fifth year of serious production, the Laing operation is among a small group of northern Ontario farmers to make use so far of $290,000 in federal government funding for “Sustainable New Agricultural Products” (SNAP). The program was announced in April and is administered by four economic development agencies in the northern Ontario region. SNAP grants pay up to $5,000 toward the purchase of equipment for further processing of agricultural products and new ventures.

The Laings have developed their Algoma Highlands enterprise on a stone-free soil base amid the granite shores of Lake Superior. It’s ancient lake bottom sand and silt and the only farm for hundreds of kilometres.

They purchased the unique, 640-acre property in 2006 and have begun by cultivating existing wild blueberry plants, adding nitrogen and removing competing vegetation. The property is a deep, level plain bisected by the TransCanada Highway just outside Wawa and the approach seems to be working.

This year’s crop came from about 100 acres of the total site with about 35 per cent low bush blueberry plant coverage. Next year, Trevor plans to boost that to about 150 acres on 65 per cent coverage.

It’s been a long, slow process for which he knows no precedents.

“I am the model,” Trevor joked during a recent interview by cell phone from the blueberry patch. “We’re learning lots,” he said, referring to a planned objective of 500,000 lb. of blueberries, a winery and a smaller, U-pick strawberry operation. A Wawa-born 52-year-old former reforestation contractor with four young children, Trevor turned to farming while maintaining other real estate investments.

The Laing operation counts among a growing phase of new agricultural development in parts of northern Ontario. It’s supported partly by four regional economic development organizations: Clover Valley Farmers’ Market in Fort Frances, Eat Local Sudbury Cooperative, Northeast Community Network in Kapuskasing and, in the District of Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie-based Rural Agri-Innovation Network (RAIN).

Algoma Highlands’ SNAP grant paid for food processing equipment and a pair of large kettles for processing jams and other blueberry-based products. The equipment is part of a commercial kitchen under development on the farm. RAIN officials have extended the deadline for applications until Oct. 31. Several grants remain in process but the agency announced several in August and expects to spend its budget with further announcements late this year.

Maltese Grocery of Thunder Bay bought a patty-forming machine to help process local meats. Brule Creek Farms at Kakabeka Falls bought an oilseed press to allow for cold processing of canola oil.

Muskoka-based Belly Ice Cream uses locally-grown fruits for flavour and acquired a new batch freezer for gelato and sorbet. Valleyfield Farm near Echo Bay added a “hoop” greenhouse to the 80-acre mixed farm to extend the market garden season. Rucher du Nord of Kapuskasing acquired equipment to permit expanded apiary production of bees wax and churned honey.

SNAP response has been strong, research co-ordinator David Thomson said in an interview from RAIN offices in the Sault. Local food and value-added farm products are part of what Thomson described as “a resurgence in farming in Algoma.”

The 2011 Census of Agriculture counted only 317 Algoma farms, encompassing 32,000 hectares (79,100 acres) of farm land; but growth has become obvious in recent years. Algoma’s census farms include 50 beef operations with 2012 cash receipts of $3.9 million, estimates published on the RAIN website show.

“There are new families, Mennonite and Amish families, moving into the area,” Thomson said. He was referring specifically to locations near Desbarats, Bruce Mines and Iron Bridge, east of Sault Ste. Marie.

Marketing specialist Kate Filion said interest in SNAP is a sign of broader interest in local food development, although RAIN research has also identified important infrastructure gaps in storage, farm supply and transportation facilities.

“It’s been situations where they’ve wanted to expand into new areas, they’ve wanted to purchase a greenhouse for season extension; but they just haven’t had the finances,” Filion said.

Established in 2014 as a three-year pilot project of the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre, RAIN conducts crop trials and other agricultural research. It also manages a provincially-funded, tile drainage project for the region. The drainage program provides 50 per cent of costs up to $500 per acre for approved farms.

A project for Algoma wraps up this fall with $1.8 million-worth of drainage on 1,600 acres of 25 area farms. A second, similar project for Manitoulin Island is planned for 2015. BF