October is a busy month on Ontario farms. For many of us, harvest is underway, days are long and municipal politics probably aren’t at the top of the priority list. But they should be, especially this year with municipal elections coming up on October 26.
It’s worth making some time to find out who is asking for your vote. That’s because municipal government has an incredible amount of influence over what happens at the farm level.
Roads and bridges, drainage, land use planning, development and local infrastructure are just some of the areas where decisions made locally can affect our businesses. Those decisions can influence what we can do on our land, whether we can expand our businesses, how easily we can move equipment and products, and if we have the infrastructure we need for both daily operations and future growth.
It pays to pay attention to who is running for local government. It’s also important for farmers to help candidates understand agriculture and what our sector needs from municipal government.
The reality is that agriculture represents a relatively small part of Ontario’s population. Even in rural communities, we can’t assume that everyone running for office has a background in farming or understands how decisions made at the municipal level can affect a farm business. And that’s where farmers, rural residents and those passionate about preserving our local food production come in.
Local federations of agriculture have organized approximately 20 all-candidates meetings across Ontario this fall to give voters opportunities to meet candidates, raise local agricultural concerns and help those seeking office better understand the importance of farming to their communities.
If a candidate comes to your door, talk to them. If there’s an all-candidates meeting in your community, consider attending and asking a question. Find out what candidates know about agriculture and where they stand on issues that matter locally – and take the opportunity to tell them something about your farm and your business.
Rural infrastructure is a good example. Farm businesses rely on local roads and bridges to move large equipment and get crops, livestock and supplies where they need to go. Someone who doesn’t work in agriculture may not immediately think about equipment size, weight restrictions, seasonal traffic or how a road closure or bridge project could affect farm operations.
The same is true of land use planning. Decisions about development, infrastructure and how communities grow can have implications for agricultural land and nearby farm businesses that extend well beyond the boundaries of an individual property.
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