Loading...
The Rural Voice, 1987-10, Page 21(146,546 acres) registered to non- residents in Ontario. Don Dunn, director of Foodland Preservation, a branch of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Ontario, says he thinks Ontario's law deters absentee ownership adequately. If Ontario passed legislation similar to Manitoba's, he says, the effect would be negative. Such action would convey to foreign countries that Ontario does not welcome their investments. Early in the 1980s, in fact, the Conservative government of Ontario refused to pass more restrictive laws, citing the estimation that foreign ownership affected less than one per cent of Ontario farm land. It was also said that the monitoring of people abusing the law is very difficult, that even in Manitoba there are loopholes. Criticisms of foreign or corporate ownership, however, are many. Absentee owners tend to purchase large blocks of land, and the buildings on the land are sometimes torn down to avoid taxes. This practice puts an extra tax burden on neighbouring farms, and has a detrimental effect on the farming community. Others note that because of the large acreages owned and leased out by absentee owners, the distance between family farms is growing, thus eroding the rural sense of community. An absentee owner, it has been said, cannot support local projects, or simply give his neighbour a helping hand when needed. Small towns are also adversely affected. As the surrounding population decreases, businesses may suffer, school numbers decline, and general support for the community diminishes. In addition, studies conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture have shown that rented land is, on the whole, less productive than land operated by the owner. And absentee owners, both foreign and Canadian, have a greater tendency to allow their land to go to weeds in times of poor crop prices, when renting land is much more difficult. As it was noted in an Environment Canada study, foreign buyers purchase land for security more than financial gain. Many are drawn by the large number of acres available in Canada, and price is a central factor. European farm land in the 1980s has been 12 times more expensive than Ontario farm land, partly because European land prices are inflated by the large government subsidies paid to farmers there. But today in Bruce County, the issue of absentee ownership is not as contentious as it once was. "Absentee owners today have not been as active as they were in the past," says Mac Bolton, agricultural representative at the Walkerton OMAF office. But some of the land owned by absentee owners lay idle this year, he adds, because area farmers were unwilling to pay the rental prices the owners were asking. Some of the land owned by absentee owners in Bruce County lay idle this year because area farmers were unwilling to pay the rental prices the owners were asking. "The farm market is fairly steady in Bruce today. Farms are still pre- dominantly livestock, and it is these farms, particularly swine operations, that have increased in value," Bolton says. The majority of the farms sold, he notes, are bought by other farmers or beginning farmers, and a few farms are bought by town people wishing to move to the country. ccording to some real estate agents, much of the recent fuss about foreign ownership in southern Huron was due to the recent election. In most of the county, rental prices are down, Bolton says, but the sharp- est drop has been in cash crop land. "Rental prices in the southern portion of the county are down, a reflection of the low commodity prices." Warren Zinn, a real estage agent dealing in Huron and Bruce counties, says that prices have now levelled off. Land values are no longer falling, but there is no sudden rise in value foreseen either. "Bare land in Bruce is the most difficult to move," Zinn remarks. The farm most in demand in the market today, he adds, is a 100 - acre parcel with a decent house. In Huron County, the percentage of cash crop land is quite high and low commodity prices have pinched many operations. Land values in the county have now levelled off, and the downward spiral seems to have ended. "There is not a great deal of activity at the moment. There are not a lot of farms on the market," says Don Pullen, agricultural representative at the Clinton OMAF office. In 1974, agricultural production value and land value went pretty much hand in hand, Pullen notes. Land then rose sharply in price, overtaking the value of agricultural produce. Today, he says, land value and agricultural production value are once again on the same level. Rental prices in Huron County have dropped with the falling land prices, Pullen reports, and there is no land in Huron left idle. This spring, there were rumours of land that would be Left fallow, but once again it was all planted. There has been a greater tendency to share -crop, though, Pullen says, because it is a way for landlord and tenant to share the risks. The Farm Credit Corporation in Goderich also notes that land prices in Huron County have stabilized. In southern Huron, land values are slightly lower because of the higher percentage of cash crop farms. In the Seaforth to Goderich area of the county where there is a greater proportion of livestock, the land is slightly higher in value. Southern Huron, in fact, has recently been the target of media attention. In August of this year, the London Free Press reported sales to foreign investors, both absentee and immigrant. The area in question was a strip of land running from Grand Bend to Exeter. The area contains the farm of Ontario Minister of Agriculture Jack Riddell. OCTOBER 1987 19