Recent Changes in Agricultural Regions of Southern Ontario Akira TABAYASHI Abstract Southern Ontario is a peninsula shaped region bounded by Lake Huro

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Recent Changes in Agricultural Regions of Southern Ontario Akira TABAYASHI Abstract Southern Ontario is a peninsula shaped region bounded by Lake Huro"

ぜんまもちやま
3 years ago
Views:

1 Recent Changes in Agricultural Regions of Southern Ontario Akira TABAYASHI Abstract Southern Ontario is a peninsula shaped region bounded by Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the Ottawa River. Since southern Ontario has the most favorable combination of environmental and marketing advantages, it enjoys various types of highly productive agriculture. Since the end of World War II the majority of farms in southern Ontario have become more specialized operations. The objective of this paper is to investigate the types of farms in southern Ontario and their principal characteristics mainly based onthe observation of sample farms. Further, through the analysis of statistics and the pertinent literature, an attempt is made to explain some important features of the recent changes in the agricultural regions of southern Ontario. Beef cattle, dairy, hog, grain corn and tobacco farms were chosen to be examined as sample farms. Production of livestock occupies acentral place in the agriculture of southern Ontario and much of the crop production isfor livestock feed. On livestock farms self-sufficiency of feed is a fundamental principle. Crop rotation is widely practiced and large amounts of manure along with commercial fertilizer are used to help retain soil fertility. In terms of the farm operation, themajority are run only by family members with a few instances of employment of seasonallabour. Size of farms is relatively small in Canadian terms (40 to 120 hectares) but gross sales concentrated in the 40 to 90 thousand dollar a year range are slightly above thenational average. Judging from these features, southern Ontario agriculture seems to be common to the traditional mixed farming systems of western Europe. However, farms in southern Ontario have been highly mechanized and commercialized. A large number of farms specialize in a single agricultural product. One of the most important changes in southern Ontario agriculture is the spread of grain corn and soybeans at the expense of hay, mixed grains and oats. This means that higher yielding/higher value crops are replacing lower yielding more traditional ones. Dairy and poultry farms are doing well economically, while beef and hog operations are not. Institute of Geoscience, University of Tsukuba

2 Another change in southern Ontario is that industrialized agriculture has developed during the last thirty years. According to Troughton, "Agriculture is transformed from an activity generally carried out at a small-scale and moderate to low level of capital intensity, to one in which the major portion of production comes from a reduced number of large scale, highly capitalized units." In addition, part-time farmers constitute increasing proportion of all farmers. Earnings from off-farm work are now very important for many farmers. There are also many "hobb y farmers". Their interests are mainly in rural living with little effort to maximize income from the farm operation. Lastly a process of regional specialization and diversifiation has advanced since World War II: the development of special crop regions, expansion of the corn belt and horticultural regions, and a growing contrast between the Canadian Shield and southern flat land areas.

15 ARIO MINTSTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD, FARM PRODUCTS QUALITY BRANCH, FRUIT AND VEGETABLE STATION

16 Southern Ontario Atlas of Agriculture L Census of Canada

17 Southern Ontario Atlas of Agriculture Æ Census of Cenada

19 Agricultural Statistics for Ortario

20 RESOURSES DEVELOPMENT, UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH 1972).

23 BAKER, 0. E. (1928) : Agricultural Regions of NorthAmerica, Part V: the Hay and Dairy Belt. Economic Geography, 4, FULLER, A. M. (1984) : Part-time Farming : The Enigmas and Realities. Research in Rural Sociology and Development, 1, GAYLER, H. J. (1982) : The Problems of Adjusting toslow Growth in the Niagara Region of Ontario. Canadian Geographer, 26, GREGOR, H. F. (1982) : Industrialization of U. S. Agriculture: An Interpretive Atlas. Westview Press, Boulder, 1-2. GRIGG, D. (1974) : The Agricultural System of the World An Evolutionary Approach. Cambridge University Press, London, JOSEPH, A. E. and KEDDIE, P. D. (1981) : The Diffusion of Grain Production through Southern Ontario, Canadian Geographer, 25, KEDDIE, P. D. (1983) : The Renewed Viability of Grain Corn Production in Southern Ontario, , and Changes in Harvesting and Storage Methods. Canadian Geographer, 37, and \ MAGE, J. A. (1985) : Southern Ontario Atlas ofagriculture: Contemporary Patterns and Recent Changes. Department of Geography,University of Guelph, 85p. KRUEGER, R. R. (1978) : Urbanization of the NiagaraFruit Belt. Canadian Geographer, 22, MAGE, J. A. (1975) : A Typology of Part-time Farming. In FULLER, A. M. and MAGE, J. A. (eds.) : Part-time Farming Problem or Resource in Rural Development. Geo Abstract, Norwich, MCCLATCHY, D. and CLUFF, M. (1986) : Development inthe Canadian Beef and Cattle 71

24 Market. Canadian Farm Economics, 20(1), MORGAN, W. B. and MUNTON, R. J. C. (1971) : Agricultural Geography. Melthuen, London, ONTARIO MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD, FARM PRODUCTS QUALITY BRANCH, FRUIT AND VEGETABLE STATION (1979) : Holland Bradford Marshes. 5p. REEDS, L. G. (1959) : Agricultural Regions of Southern Ontario 1880 and Economic Geography, 53, SUNDSTROM, M. (1984) : The Canadian Dairy Industry in Transition : 1950 to Geographical Monographs, 14, TABAYASHI, A. (1986) : Changing Agricultural Regions of Southern Ontario. Annual Report of the Institute of Geoscience, The Universityof Tsukuba, 12, THE CENTRE FOR RESPOURCE DEVELOPMENT, UNIVERSITY OFGUELPH (1972) : Planning for Agriculture in Southern Ontario. ARDA Report, 7, THE ONTARIO MILK MARKETING BOARD (1984) : Producer Milk Quotas. A Resource kit, 2p. TROUGHTON, M. J. (1982a) : Canadian Agriculture. Akademiai KiadO, Budapest, (1982b) : Process and Response in the Industrialization of Agriculture. In ENYDI, \ G. and VOLGYES, I. (eds.) : The Effects of Modern Agriculture on Rural Environment. Pergamon Press, New York, (1985a) : Industrialization of \ US and Canadian Agriculture. Journal of Geography, 84, \ (1985b) : Industrial Agriculture in Southern Ontario. Field Trip Guide for Management of Rural Resources (1986) : Farming Systems \ in the Modern World. In PACIONE, M. (ed.) : Progress in Agricultural Geography. Croom Helm, London, WALKER, G. (1974) : Social Interaction in the Holland Marsh. Ontario Geographer, 8, WHITAKER, J. R. (1940) : Distribution of Dairy Farming in Peninsula Ontario. Economic Geograph _y, 16,

ñ{ï 01-65

ñ{ï 01-65 191252005.2 19 *1 *2 *3 19562000 45 10 10 Abstract A review of annual change in leading rice varieties for the 45 years between 1956 and 2000 in Japan yielded 10 leading varieties of non-glutinous lowland