Agribusiness in the Study Area

Section 6 of Report B: Overview of the Transportation, Land Use and Economic Conditions within the Analysis Area describes the socio economic conditions of the area. This section of the report is completely inadequate in its review of the Agricultural Sector. Equally obtuse is the conclusion on page 32 which states “Given this diversity, the Analysis Area is considered quite sustainable, and as such, it is important that the Ministry plan for future improvements to Highway 7&8 to support this sustainability.”

Section 10 of Report B sets out a series of goals to be used to verify and define transportation system problems and opportunities. AGRICULTURE IS MISSING!!!!!!! There is mention of tourism. There is mention of providing a mix of land uses. There is mention of encouraging residential and employment intensification and there is mention of discouraging development along transportation corridors in rural areas. There is no goal for agriculture.

Agricultural Business and Production Statistics

This section of the brief will begin at the county and regional level and then work down to the affected township levels. This method is chosen in order to clearly identify the scale of surrounding agri-business activity since this directly influences the four most affected townships of Wilmot, North and South Easthope and Downie.

Table A6 is a snapshot portrait, prepared by OMAFRA and using 2006 Agricultural Census data, of the overall agri-business activity in Perth County. In 2006 there were 2,438 farms in Perth with a total acreage of 201,599 hectares or about 498,000 acres. This is predominantly Class 1 and 2 farmland as well as woodlots, wetlands and stream beds. Farm sales receipts for 2006 for Perth were $ 558.5 Million and the largest four components of these receipts in rank order of dollar worth are dairy, hogs, beef cattle, and poultry. Nearly ten percent of all the dairy cows in Ontario are in Perth as well as nearly 17% of all the hogs and nearly 10% of all the poultry. Critters clearly abound here.

Table A7, drawn up from the 2006 agricultural census, draws a sharper portrait for Perth East which has the largest land area of the three affected municipalities. Total gross farm receipts for Perth East in 2006 were $ 202.3 million. This is a lot of money but it is the capitalization of agriculture today that really opens people's eyes. For Perth East the total farm capital (machinery, livestock, poultry, land and buildings) accounted for in 2006 was $1.24 billion. As Table A8 shows a large number of farm operations, over 40%, have capitalization of over $1 million and 16% have capitalization exceeding $2 million. It would be a mistake to imagine that these costs of production are mainly in the land base. By way of example, Perth East has 155,584 acres in farm land. If this were nominally valued at $ 4,500 a bare acre, -then land capitalization would be about $ 700 million. This means that $ 350 million of farm capitalization in Perth East rests in the buildings, another $ 120 million in machinery and equipment, and another $ 63.5 million in livestock and poultry and so on.

Perth South has a similar profile even if geographically it has a smaller footprint with 33,844 hectares or 83,628 acres of farm land as shown in Table A9. Gross farm receipts were $ 104.8 million and farm capitalization was $ 666 million. As Table A10 shows, 53% of farm operations in Perth South have capitalization over $ 1 million and 24% have capitalization exceeding $ 2 million. This suggests that farm operations are even more costly here than in Perth East.

Table A11 shows the same data for Waterloo region as we examined earlier for Perth. In 2006 in Waterloo region there were 1,444 farms with total acreage of 91,614 hectares or 226,400 acres. In Waterloo region, farm receipts in 2006 totaled $ 307.7 million with beef cattle, dairy, poultry and hogs being the top four producer areas when rank ordered.

Table A12 isolates data for Wilmot Township where there were 247 farms with 48,695 acres of farm land in 2006. The sales receipts for Wilmot were $ 98.5 million (one third of all receipts for Waterloo region) and the total capitalization was close to $ 438 million. Looking at Table A13, nearly 15% of these Wilmot township farms reported total capitalization for their operation exceeding $ 3.5 million.

Thus the combined annual farm sales receipt, for these three municipalities, is $ 405.6 million and the combined total farm capitalization is $ 2.3 billion dollars.

Industry Production Figures

Some statistics have been gathered by community representatives from the livestock and poultry marketing boards and commissions. These boards and commissions keep detailed records of farm production as they are responsible to manage the supply of commodities like eggs and milk. Sometimes these data allow one to see farm operations at a finer level of detail.

Since dairy production is such a dominant factor in the affected area, and since it is capital intensive, data has been solicited from the Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO). Tables A14 and A15 break down the dairy production figures for Perth County and Waterloo region by township. These tables also highlight the four targeted townships.

In Wilmot nearly 30 million litres of milk are shipped annually by 33 dairy farmers with annual milk revenues of over $ 21 million. In Downie, 28 million litres are shipped by 37 farmers with milk revenues rising to over $ 20 million. This gives an average of $ 586,000 in milk revenue per farm per year for producers in these two townships. South Easthope has 25 milk producers with a little less than 20 million litres being sold. North Easthope has 30 producers and an annual production of 14 million litres. Milk production is, of course, the central feature of dairy operations but cash crops are another important element that will be commented on below. However, while the average dairy revenue stream may superficially look exciting, no one should underestimate the enormous capitalization, livestock and labour costs required for a farm to produce a half million litres of milk a year.


Pork industry figures have been supplied by Ontario Pork and are digested in Table A16. Perth East has 198 pork farm premises and the biggest inventory of pigs, with 219,000 animals on the books currently valued at $31.5 million. This is down from a 2006 census count of 251,000 pigs, but pork production as an industry is down overall due to reduced animal values in the past two years. Perth South with 39 pork premises and Wilmot with 18 pork premises are more modest pork producers.

Sows are very prolific producers of off-spring and this is reflected in the Estimated Annual Sales Value figures for pork farms. Like the dairy business, buildings and equipment to house and manage pigs are very costly and capital intensive as the Estimated Pork Producer's Building Values also show. Pork production is a dominant farm industry in Perth East.

Information on broiler chickens has been supplied by the Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO) and is digested in Table A17. There are sixty-one sites that produce broilers in the three municipalities. Perth East has 51 broiler barns with an inventory of over 796,000 birds valued at $ 2.38 million. Wilmot has 31 producers with 52,800 birds housed and valued at $1.58 million. Perth South has 17 producers with an inventory of 36,000 birds and a value of a little over $1 million. As Table A17 clearly shows, when combined, the annual sales value of these operations, over the three municipalities, is estimated at $ 30.3 million with combined building values of $33.6 million.

Even though it is a very significant component of local farm activity, information on beef cattle is very hard to obtain because supply is not regulated. The value added by cash crops is noted in Table A18 where estimates for the 2008 crops have been calculated at the township level. From a cash crop perspective Downie Township plays a leading role in local production with an estimated $17.6 million harvest coming this crop year. Combined sales of cash crops for all four townships are estimated at close to $30 million.

Our conclusion is simple and straightforward. In the three municipalities of Perth East, Perth South and Wilmot, agriculture is very big business.

But we would be remiss in not mentioning that shear size and volume are not the only parts of agriculture that need protection from pavement. In the last two decades or so a new agricultural trend has emerged involving small scale farming, specialty crops and market garden ventures, as well as other livestock such as goats, heritage strains of pigs, cows, chickens and farmers raising crops, animals and poultry using other reduced environmental impact methods.

Of late there has been a sharp increase in consumer concern about the food-chain, both what goes into its production and where it is cropped. The new small scale trend where consumers take a more active and selective interest in the food commodities they use and consume is now unlikely to disappear. Gourmet restaurants and grocery stores are now locally sourcing fresh food items.

Demand for goat milk and cheese as well as other gourmet cheeses is rapidly rising and so on. While we do not have a complete inventory, we know that within the three affected townships many, many small producers are defining and serving selective niche markets and that these markets are expanding. Thus an important new trend in food production is towards small, local and fresh whenever possible.