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The Rural Voice, 1978-10, Page 10403 -Farms and Land Wanted to Buy URGENTLY NEEDED 100-1,000 acres for out of town cash buyer, with or without build- ings, owner will lease back . Rich- ard Schwarz 433-6622, 438-4260. CA- NADA PERMANENT TRUST, REALTOR. AM — that the corporations have much impact on pushing prices up. "After all," he says, "the price is set by supply and demand." He paid $1,000 an acre not so long ago for one hundred acres to make his farm more efficient. He remembers the time when his father couldn't afford to sell his farm, since it wouldn't bring enough money to retire on. He finds that there is a real conflict between the interest of the retiring farmer and those of the beginning farmer. Favors Legislation The past Director of district five of the National Farmer's Union, Lorne Luther, who hopes to retire within the next few years, agrees with farmers who want legislation to curtail non-resident ownership of farm, land. In order to satisfy both beginning and retiring farmers, he favours the system of landbanking as practised in Saskatchewan. There the retiring farmer can sell his holdings to the government at the current market price, if he so wishes. His son has first option to buy at a reduced price, the government absorbing the difference. Mr. Luther agrees that there are certain drawbacks to the system including upward pressure on all land prices. "But," he says, "it is the best solution that I have seen up to now." He would like to see a farmland classification plan for Ontario and then all prime land excluded from foreign ownership. "We badly need this legislation," he says, "if we want to save the family farm. If we let corporate ownership increase unchecked, it will spread across Ontario and Canada." Mr. Luther fears that in the long run rural municipalities will die unless the trend to corporate ownership is reversed. He maintains that corporate farm owners will buy in bulk from wholesalers or manufacturers, with complete disregard for local towns and villages. He says food prices will increase as well, for these corporations will insist on profit all through the chain, and will get it, because they have a strong grip on the supply. He thinks that $1,000 is an unjustifiable price for a farm acre. Vincent Austin, a former Ashfield federation president, now retired, is also worried. He says that he sold his farm, leaving a second mortgage on it. The first mortgage is held by the Farm Credit Corporation. Now, he says, the farm is controlled by an overseas investor group, and he wonders about his retirement fund. "Is it possible," he asks, "that the management of a farm can change into foreign hands, and still have capital investment by the FCC?" - Country Towns According to Mr. Austin, buildings are neglected, and he wonders what will happen to communities like Lucknow if this keeps up. The countryside tends to be depopulated as corporate PG. 10 THE RURAL VOICE/OCTOBER 1978 ownership increases and churches and schools might close, as well as stores. Mr. Logtenburg disagrees somewhat when he says that even before the en>prgence of the giants, the small towns were dying. "Go to Zehrs," he says, "and see all the country people shopping there." Clete Dalton of Ashfield claims that the corporations refuse to co-operate on drains and fences, thereby hindering their neighbours' efforts to improve land through tiling. North Huron is not the only area experiencing a growth in corporate absentee ownership of farm land. In the townships of Stephen and Usborne in south Huron, a large Canadian publishing company has bought some thousand acres of land in recent years. In Perth county Kurtzville Farms Ltd. owns considerable land. Two of its three directors live in West Germany. It is an Ontario incorporated firm with Toronto lawyers acting for the principals. Many farmers fear a lessee doesn't have the sense of ownership, the sense of pride, that the real owner has. They fear a deterioration of farm buildings is inevitable and with it a deterioration of the feeling of belonging to the community. Some ask: "What will happen when a family that lives in our community only temporarily, is asked to help repair the arena or the church?" From Lambton County comes word that absentee corporations said to be Italian owned, are actively buying farm land. In Kent County there are similar concerns about foreign ownership of land. Provincial Regulations Richard Weitfeldt, research director of the OFA, looked at regulations across Canada and• found that in Prince Edward Island one cannot own more than ten acres if not living in the province. In Alberta, non-residents can't own more than 20 acres in one lot or more than two lots in total. Saskatchewan has also passed some tough laws since 1974. Non residents can own a maximum of 160 acres and any individual or non-farm corporation owning more than that now, must sell it again. Manitoba's law is a bit less restrictive. Individual non residents can own up to 20 acres, but Canadian corporations, or corporations controlled by a majority of Canadian interests don't have a limit. A select committee of the legislature looked at foreign ownership of land in 1973 and found it too low to cause any concern. Since then, buying of Ontario farms by corporations, foreign and domestic, has mushroomed again. Why the lull in activity for about four years? One reason was touched on by the German ambassador to Canada recently when he talked about investment here. The overvalued Canadian dollar has held back investment in Canada once the dollar decline started. "Now the big corporations that had always planned to go in for investment in Canada are advancing their plans," the• ambassador was quoted as saying in the London Free Press last month.