Ontario Farmers Cautious but Still Optimistic about Future

The pressures of inflation, high interest rates, tax increases, and global conflicts are impacting Ontario’s farmers. 

That’s according to a new survey just released by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), where most respondents indicated they were taking a pause on expansion projects, business growth, new technology investments, and land and equipment purchases. 

Instead, they’re opting to maintain the status quo, with 68% keeping their business the same in 2023 and almost 71% intending to do the same for 2024. 

At the same time, 62% have some degree of confidence in the outlook for Ontario’s farm sector in 2024 and 78.5% are somewhat to extremely confident in the outlook for their own farm business this year. 

The Farm Business Confidence survey was open to all OFA members in December of last year, with participants submitting responses online. 

In discussing the survey results in an OFA viewpoint post on Monday, Vice-President Paul Vickers, a Meaford-area dairy farmer, said survey respondents made clear that reducing farm taxes was the No. 1 policy priority they felt would be helpful to their farm business or their sector. 

Provincewide, 76% identified tax burden as the top policy priority, and it was a top three concern across every geography and income range. 

This was followed by supporting farmers in dealing with high and continually rising energy costs, encouraging Ontarians to buy local food, which was particularly important to farmers in southern Ontario, and improving rural health care. 

In Northern Ontario, compensation for crop damage by wildlife, which is a significant problem in the region, was the third most identified policy priority. 

In the coming year, farmers in southern and eastern Ontario believe that high input costs, high interest rates and the cost to service debt, and the growing tax burden on farms will pose the biggest challenges for their farm businesses. In northern Ontario, rising insurance costs ranked in third spot behind input costs and interest rates.