Small farms on the increase in province, as larger operations fold or merge
Joseph Tunney | CBC News | Posted: September 5, 2017 11:08 AM | Last Updated: September 5, 2017
New Brunswick leads country in growth of small farms, but operators don't expect strong business for a while
Fewer large and medium-size farms have survived in Canada in recent years, but there has been an increase in smaller farms — especially in New Brunswick.
Statistics Canada says the number of farms in Canada has declined by more than 10,000 over the past five years. In that time, New Brunswick alone has lost 356 independently run farms.
But the number of farms under 10 acres has gone up by seven per cent.
In 2011, New Brunswick saw 187 small farms and by 2016 that number was up to 200, the only size category that showed an increase over the past five years.
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But even though farmers markets are bustling and a new breed of boutique farmers is emerging to meet the demand for local organic produce, some small acreage farmers don't see a growing business in the next few years.
"For the next few decades, we'll just be a niche market," said Phil Savage, a vegetable farmer standing behind his stall at the Queen Square Farmers Market in Saint John over the weekend, selling fresh produce and flowers.
"It's a bit pessimistic but unfortunately that's just where the numbers seem to be going."
New Brunswick agriculture heathy
Mike Bouma, chairman for the Agricultural Alliance of New Brunswick, says the province's agriculture sector is healthy.
One of the bigger reasons there are fewer farms is that medium-size farms are being absorbed by larger ones, he said.
"The farms that remain are generally getting larger due to technology," he said.
Cedric MacLeod, opportunities co-ordinator for the New Brunswick Cattle Producers, agreed that farms continue to go through a period of consolidation.
"It's the natural progression," said MacLeod.
Nationwide farming more complex
Overall, big Canadian farms are losing the fight internationally, both to multi-national corporations and heavily subsidized industries from other countries that are driving down profit margins, Bouma said.
Meanwhile, growth in smaller farms cannot make up for the total loss in market share New Brunswick farmers are suffering.
"I think there's much more interest in local, but that tends to be your well-to-do, a-little-better-off urbanites, but then you have that section of the population that's struggling financially."
Cheap land
But one thing the province does have in its favour, is the cheapest farmland across the country — meaning young people interested in joining the industry from Ontario or out West may consider making the move east.
"Picking up a couple [of] acres of ground, let's say, might cost you a few thousand bucks," MacLeod said. "That is an entry point."
You've got to make every dollar you can for those three to five to 10 acres. -Phil Savage
Back at the Queen Square Market in Saint John, Savage said land is definitely cheap in New Brunswick and he has heard some farmers have made the move east for that very reason.
Still, land only constitutes about a third of the cost of getting up and running, and the Hampton-area farmer said many boutique farms don't translate to a larger consumer base.
"I think the reason there's been this increase in small farms is because it's been so hard for young people to find the capital to get into large-scale farming," he said. "We pay off these capital costs each season and hope to make a little bit of revenue for ourselves."
For the local farmer, intense marketing — needing to sell every turnip to turn a profit — is the only way young people can work the land anymore.
And while micro-farmers like Savage may be keeping kale consumers and market patrons happy, he's not about to quit the more lucrative side of his business — growing and selling flowers — anytime soon.
"You've got to make every dollar you can for those three to five to 10 acres."