Abstract
There are fewer and fewer young people actively farming in Canada. Farmers under the age of 35 are leaving farming at twice the rate of the general farm population. As a result, Canada faces a crisis of generational renewal on its farms. This article explores the factors that mitigate against young people taking up farming. Using an analytical framework in part derived from the work of Henry Bernstein and applied to Statistics Canada data, the article demonstrates that there is an ongoing income crisis, a growing problem of farmland accessibility and costs associated with farm machinery, unrestrained increases in the power and profit-share of agribusiness transnationals, and a retreat of governments from public-interest regulation. In doing so, the article provides an evidence-based analysis of the structural factors and forces driving Canada's crisis of generational renewal on its farms.
Highlights
In terms of the number of farms, Canadian agriculture is a shrinking sector
We argue that the evidence points to the need for a radical shift in agricultural and food policy to deal with the pathologies that are reducing farm numbers overall, and to encourage the entry of young people into farming, if an intensification of a farm crisis is to be averted
The article focuses on what Bernstein (2010, 22) calls the four key questions of agrarian political economy: Who owns what? Who does what? Who gets what? What do they do with it? Bernstein argues that these four questions allow a broad understanding of the structural factors that shape farm production and agriculture in a range of societies
Summary
Unless new policies and programs are introduced to ensure that young people can enter farming and that they can remain on the land, Canadian agriculture risks plunging off a demographic cliff. The article identifies four key structural factors: low net incomes, an imbalance in market power between farmers and agribusiness corporations, increasingly unaffordable farmland, and corporate- rather than farmerfocused state regulatory regimes. The effect of these structural factors on the generation of farmers warrants serious attention, given the generational crisis in Canada’s agriculture. We believe that a democratic, bottom-up process is the most effective and legitimate way to craft those new food and agricultural policies
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call