There goes the neighbourhood

I am not sure what to think about plans by a Toronto company to launch large scale corporate farming in Western Canada. My first thought is to protect and promote the family farm, but there again I have talked to lots of producers in recent years who operate family farms that are 15,000, 20,000 even 30,000 acres or more. So perhaps size in itself does not necessarily constitute ‘corporate’ farming.

According to a report on Canada News Wire (CNW), Sprott Resource Corp. of Toronto is planning to launch One Earth Farms. The company will invest $27.5 million to establish operations, fund working capital and support initial growth. (See the full report at: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2009/04/c5715.html

The initial minimum target is 20,000 hectares (about 50,000 acres) in the first year. And with access to large tracts of First Nations’ farmland it will position One Earth Farms to become the largest, most efficient farm in Canada.

Three principles behind this project are Larry Ruud, a Vermilion, Alberta area farmer and partner in Meyers Norris Penny (he’s also a Viterra director); Blaine Favel, a former grand chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations; and Fred Siemens a former president and CEO of the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange.

This could be a specialized venture that puts unused tracts of Reserve land into agricultural production. And that is a good thing. But then I also have this vision of a company that buys up entire counties in Alberta and a bunch of rural municipalities in Saskatchewan and Manitoba as it begins its march of corporate farming across Western Canada.

Mega Global Farms is on your doorstep and you either have to sell out or be squeezed out by this corporate giant. It is so big it can buy Roundup for $1 per litre, has a fleet of 400 combines, 800 80-foot wide Morris air drills, and recently bought a subsidiary company known as CP Rail. It operates at such an economy of scale that it can make a nice profit on $5 canola. What Mom and Pop operation can compete against that?

But I am letting my imagination run away with me on that scenario. There is really nothing in the short news item I read that even suggests One Earth Farms is a bad thing. Maybe I just watch too many movies. Did any else see There Will Be Blood?

There is some aspect of this proposal that makes me wonder if this is the start of Costco-ization of Canadian agriculture. Is that a bad thing? It is just a sign of the times? You look at the corporate world and how many companies that were around 10 years ago still have a neon sign out today?  Mega Global Manufacturing has bought most of them out.

I just think of all the flack Hutterite Colonies have received over the years for buying up private farms, driving up the price of land, taking away the support of local stores and schools, and the list of criticisms go on.

One Earth Farms may be the best thing to happen to Canadian agriculture, but only time will tell. With world population expected to double over the next 30 years or so, and with that an increasing demand for food, any projects that can bring good arable farm land into food production is a good thing. At the moment it is just a plan on paper. And we’ll have to see what happens if or when they actually get their first low-disturbance opener in the ground.

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