Norman Koch is a grain farmer and business owner in Earlton. This year, he plans to grow about 12,000 acres of soybeans, oats, wheat and canola. On Thursday, he welcomed Ontario Agriculture Minister Trevor Jones and George Pirie, the Minister of Northern Economic Development and Growth, who visited his grain elevators. The ministers were there to announce $1.4 million for five agriculture projects in the area. The funding includes $1 million for the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance to administer a tile drainage project that will benefit a consortium of 18 agriculture producers. “Tiling makes a big difference to the land,” said Norman Koch, owner of Koch Farms Agri-Sales Inc. “We can get on to the fields two and a half weeks earlier in the spring, and it can stay on them three to four weeks later in the fall. It warms up the soil faster so we can grow crops that we couldn’t grow years ago, and along with … global warming that helps agriculture in northern Ontario.” Another $200,000 will help build a new sheep barn on a farm in Thornloe, while three other producers in the area are receiving money to build or renovate buildings for hay. Pirie said northern Ontario’s clay belt is a region primed for development and growth for farmers. “I mean, let’s talk about, the cattle production in the north in Cochrane,” he said. “They’re up by 20 per cent. You just have to drive from Timmins over to Matheson (and) you can see the acres that are being cleared largely by the Mennonites … large firms that are coming into the Iroquois Falls area, as well.” Can grow more crops Officials said the agriculture sector in northeastern Ontario is gaining attention. The International Plowing Match that took place in Earlton in 2009 -- the first one in northern Ontario -- raised awareness of the opportunities in the north. “It’s been growing pretty consistently, I’d say, for the last decade at least,” said Stephanie Vanthof, member services representative for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. “In other parts of the province, (there’s a) lack of land or unaffordable land and we have in the north available affordable land, which is helpful. And as the growing season changes, it makes it more amenable to grow different kinds of crops.” “A big part of growing Ontario is finding opportunities where we can grow and where we can grow,” Jones said. “The clay belt that Mr. Pirie mentioned, there’s limitless potential there, thousands of thousands of acres that if you invest in technology to tile it, train it, you know, access to resources to use that land, it’s limitless potential.” Pirie said there are eight billion people in the world and millions of them are hungry, and so it’s the right time for northern Ontario to feed the world with its products.
