“Regenerating” Agriculture: Becoming a Young Farmer in Manitoba, Canada

Abstract

This chapter analyses the pathways, motivations, and challenges of young people who are bucking the trend of urban migration and instead are choosing to continue to farm or enter farming as new entrants in the Canadian province of Manitoba. We are particularly interested in addressing the following questions: Who are the young people entering and continuing in agriculture in Manitoba today? How did they enter agriculture? What motivates them to farm? How do they farm and market their products? What barriers are they facing as young farmers in the province? What kind of support do they need?

This chapter analyses the pathways, motivations, and challenges of young people who are bucking the trend of urban migration and instead are choosing to continue to farm or enter farming as new entrants in the Canadian province of Manitoba. We are particularly interested in addressing the following questions: Who are the young people entering and continuing in agriculture in Manitoba today? How did they enter agriculture? What motivates them to farm? How do they farm and market their products? What barriers are they facing as young farmers in the province? What kind of support do they need?

Our research highlights the experiences of two distinct groups of young farmers in Manitoba: those using direct marketing¹ and operating small-scale farms and those producing for conventional markets and operating medium to large-scale farms. While there are certainly some similarities and blurring of lines between these two groups of young farmers, there are important differences as well, particularly in their upbringing, pathways into agriculture, production models, ability to fit into the dominant industrial agriculture paradigm, applicability of regulations, and acceptance into rural communities. Although our study also revealed some important gender dimensions, due to space limitations, we cannot address these here.²

The chapter is structured as follows. We first situate the research by providing a brief description of the major agricultural trends in Manitoba, Canada. We then describe our research methods and research participants. This is followed by a discussion of the various pathways through which young people enter agriculture, their motivations, and the barriers they face. We conclude by summarizing some major differences and similarities between the two major types of young farmers and signalling a potential pathway to help ensure the “regeneration” of agriculture in the province.

Situating the Research

Agriculture in the province of Manitoba epitomizes the industrial, neoliberal paradigm of agriculture in Canada described in Chap. 2 on the situational analysis of young farmers in Canada. Grains, oilseeds, and hog production dominate the province’s agriculture industry and account for the largest portion of agri-food exports (Manitoba Agriculture 2021). Manitoba has the largest pig farms and the highest percentage of dairy farms adopting robotic milking technology in the country (Manitoba Agriculture 2017). In 2013, Manitoba was among the top three contributors to the Canadian agriculture economy, contributing 10.3 per cent to the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the sector (cited in Statistics Canada 2017). Farms grossing less than C$250,000³ fell by 15.3 per cent between 2011 and 2016, and those grossing more than C$250,000 increased by 14.2 per cent over the same period (Manitoba Agriculture 2017). Furthermore, in 2015, only 6.1 per cent of farms reported selling products directly to consumers (Manitoba Agriculture 2017), which suggests that the majority of medium and large-scale farms in Manitoba are selling their products through conventional markets.

In line with national trends, Manitoba lost 70 per cent of farmers under 35 years old between 1991 and 2016 (Statistics Canada 2018), and rural communities are deeply concerned about the ongoing outmigration of rural youth (Bacon and Brewin 2008). The price of farmland has skyrocketed; while prices averaged C$720 per acre in 2006, a decade later, it was two-and-a-half times as high (Qualman et al. 2018). Land concentration too has increased significantly. For example, according to the Census of Agriculture in 1986, the percentage of the land that was farmed by smaller farms of up to 999 acres in size was 43 per cent and by the 2016 Census of Agriculture, this category of farms covered only 16 per cent of the land (Qualman et al. 2020). Meanwhile, larger-scale farms had increased the percentage of land they farmed considerably. For example, in 1986, farms of 5000 acres and 10,000 acres and above covered only 4 per cent and 1 per cent of the land, respectively; by 2016, the former category had jumped to 24 per cent and the latter to 8 per cent (Qualman et al. 2020). Meanwhile, farm debt in Manitoba has never been higher (Government of Manitoba n.d.) and it is expected to continue to climb in the foreseeable future.

While the agricultural situation we have just described may appear bleak, there are also glimmers of hope for the province. Between 2011 and 2016, the number of young farmers under 35 increased by 11 per cent (Qualman et al. 2018) and the average age of farmers in the province is the second lowest across Canada (Statistics Canada 2018). There is also a growing and vibrant local food movement that includes small-scale farmers, direct marketers, and their urban-based allies (Anderson et al. 2017; Small Scale Food Manitoba working group 2015; Laforge et al. 2017; Sivilay 2019). Finally, in prioritizing the voices of young farmers and allowing their stories and experiences to guide our analysis of young farmers in Manitoba today, we heard a lot about their desire and commitment to farm; we also heard about the hard work and the tenacity that it takes to be a young farmer.

Methods and Research Participants

Our findings are based on qualitative research involving 60 semi-structured interviews as well as quantitative data from a survey used to collect information to supplement interview data. Between April and July 2017, we interviewed 48 young farmers (18–40 years old),⁴ 9 older farmers (over 40 years old), and 3 others involved in the agriculture industry in Manitoba. In the interests of capturing diverse experiences, we sought to interview farmers in various parts of the province (see Fig. 3.1). We also selected research participants using the snowball method.

Fig. 3.1

Locations of interviews conducted in Manitoba. (Note: The pins on this map represent all of the locations in Manitoba where we interviewed farmers and industry representatives. In some cases, we interviewed a number of farmers from the same location and sometimes only one. Source: Google Maps (2018))

Fig. 3.2

The distribution of young farmers based on their style of production

Participants were selected using a combination of purposive, volunteer, and snowball methods in order to gain a diverse sample in terms of gender, types of production, and marketing strategies. Many of the young farmers volunteered to join our study by responding to the invitation that we had posted on Twitter and Facebook. Some participants contacted us as a result of obtaining information about the study through the Keystone Agricultural Producers, the National Farmers Union, and the Agriculture diploma programme at the University of Manitoba. A local radio programme in the province also interviewed Meghan Entz, the research assistant who conducted the interviews, and this media also attracted some farmers to the research.

In selecting the participants, we tried as much as possible to obtain a sample reflective of the overall agricultural landscape in Manitoba. For example, in line with the gender distribution in the landscape of Canadian agriculture, our sample of young farmers includes just over 30 per cent women. Additionally, Manitoba Agriculture (2017) reports that only 6.1 per cent of all farms in Manitoba reported using some form of direct marketing. Accordingly, in efforts to best represent the landscape of agriculture in Manitoba, we included a larger number of conventional producers using conventional marketing and a much smaller number of alternative and organic producers using direct marketing strategies.

Ultimately, the research involved the following 60 interviewees: 10 new entrants (first generation) and 38 continuing (from a farming family) young farmers offer their experiences and perceptions of entering into farming in Manitoba. Among these 48 young farmers interviewed, 13 are direct marketers and 35 sell through conventional markets. For the purpose of our study, we classified direct marketers as those who sell at least 51 per cent of their products directly to consumers or directly to local retailers who will sell to local consumers. In total, 32 men and 16 women participated as young farmers, 18 of whom were farming couples that were interviewed together. We also spoke with nine older farmers (between the ages of 41 and 63), and three additional people involved in the agriculture industry, including an employee of an agriculture diploma programme, an instructor involved in a university farm, and a representative involved with Manitoba Agriculture Services Corporation (MASC).

In analysing the data, we categorized young farmers based on their production methods and their marketing strategies (Figs. 3.2 and 3.3). It is worth noting that these categories do not capture all of the nuances and diversity that exist within each category and the lines do blur between them. However, the categories do help to draw distinctions between young farmers depending on what and how they produce and market their products.

We identified the following four categories of young farmers. The conventional grain, livestock, and mixed farm category includes those farming grains, legumes, forage seed, hay, cattle, hogs, sheep, and any mixture of those using conventional methods of production, on a larger scale.⁵ This includes intensive livestock operations and/or the use of chemical or synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, genetically modified organisms, and/or other industrially produced inputs. Organic and transitioning to organic includes those producing any variety and combination of grains, green manure, livestock, fruits, and vegetables and are certified organic, or are in the process of obtaining organic certification. This category varies in farm size, but is primarily small-scale farmers producing for local markets. Alternative styles of production are farmers using organic principles without being certified organic and small-scale farms that produce any combination of fruits, vegetables, honey, and livestock while prioritizing permaculture principles in their farm and livestock management. The supply management category includes dairy, egg, and poultry producers whose operations are subject to quotas under supply management regulations.

Research Findings—What Did Farmers Tell Us?

Young Farmer Pathways into Farming

Three pathways into agriculture emerged for young farmers in Manitoba. The first, and most common, is that of young farmers who grew up on a family farm, many of whom have taken over the operation or continue to farm with their parents. Of these continuing farmers, 27 were conventional, 3 were organic, 3 were alternative, and 5 were supply-managed. Those that grew up on a farm generally remembered their upbringing fondly and appreciated the skills, values, and knowledge they developed in those formative years.

For example, among others, one conventional grain farmer described his experience as a young boy on the farm and the gratitude he feels towards his father for teaching him the value of hard work: “I remember taking care of the yard, I was 12 and we had a big whipper snipper. I remember coming back to the shop to take a break and trying to stay in the shop and my Dad said, ‘No, get back out there.’ It took another 12 years for me to be so happy that he made me do that. It just taught me perseverance and to keep pushing.”

A dairy farmer explained that she and her siblings shared responsibilities on the farm as children and emphasized the need for teamwork to ensure everything ran smoothly: “My sister loved the grunt work, I loved the cows, she didn’t mind doing the feeding and the grunt work, we each had gifts to disperse among [the farm]. My brother enjoyed the machinery part, so if we got a tractor stuck he’d haul out a chain. We work together, you have to work together.”

Of the 38 continuing farmers, 84 per cent farm using conventional methods of production and marketing. This includes supply-managed producers who also grew up on a family farm.⁶ Most of the continuing farmers receive significant help from their families and rely on them for access to resources such as machinery, land, knowledge, and financial support. The six continuing farmers using organic or alternative methods of production also receive some form of support from their parents. However, in most cases, these young farmers started a farm independent from their family farm after an extended period of time away, or their parents stopped farming before they returned to agriculture. None of the continuing young farmers who practise conventional or supply-managed production are considered direct marketers as they primarily sell their products through conventional markets. Of the organic and alternative continuing farmers, five are primarily direct marketers and one has a large-scale conventional farm where he recently converted over 4000 acres of farmland used for grain production to certified organic for sale in conventional markets.

In total, we spoke with 10 new entrants, that is, young farmers who did not grow up on a farm and who entered agriculture via two distinct pathways. Five new entrants entered agriculture through marriage to a spouse who comes from a farm family.⁷ All five of these young farmers are women; two married men from large-scale conventional farms (the only two new entrants in this farming category) and joined their spouses’ family farms. The other three women married men from family farms that are no longer in operation; they are all farming using organic or alternative methods of production and built their farm together with their spouse. All of the new entrants who entered farming through marriage highlighted the value of their spouses’ farming knowledge as a result of having grown up on a farm, and most indicated that they depend on their spouse and his family for advice and guidance. For example, although she has been on the farm with her spouse for over 10 years, one first-generation conventional livestock farmer explained that she looks to her husband to make the decisions on the farm due to his lifelong experience as a farmer: “In all honesty, I rely on [him] very much. Because he just has been doing it so long that when it comes down to a big decision, I think it just goes through [him] … Not that I think [he] wouldn’t be willing to let me make some decisions, but I just feel that he’s the more qualified decision maker.”

All five of the new entrants through marriage received some form of support from their spouse’s parents, whether it was financial support, knowledge-sharing, or access to machinery and affordable farmland to share, rent, or own.

The third pathway into agriculture are the new entrants who entered into agriculture without any recent family history in farming, without any family-owned farmland or machinery, without farm assets to use as collateral for bank loans, and without years of intergenerational knowledge transfer under their belt. In this group there are two couples and one single man, all from non-farming backgrounds. All of these farmers are practising alternative methods of production and are farming on a small-scale using direct marketing to consumers as their primary avenue for sales. Most farmers who entered agriculture in this way spent time interning or working on farms prior to starting their own and rely on their neighbours and farm community networks and resources to access knowledge from experienced farmers.

A mixed livestock new entrant who had followed this third pathway described the learning process that she and her husband, who is also a new entrant, went through to become farmers. Besides her husband’s experience completing an agriculture diploma, they rely heavily on the knowledge and experience of farmers that they have met along the way, through grazing management school, internships, or just friendly neighbours who are willing to pass on knowledge: “Everyone we’ve ever worked for or with has taught us quite a bit. And it doesn’t happen, things don’t happen in isolation, you don’t just learn about cattle when you’re working on a cattle ranch. You learn how to run the bailer and how to fix a fence.”

This same couple has a unique scenario in that they have managed to develop a relationship with an older farmer in the area who also has a livestock operation. The couple practises holistic management on their farm, while the older farmer holds many of these same values. Together they agreed on a succession plan whereby the young couple are in the process of taking over the older farmer’s farm. While this type of scenario is not common, it does point to interesting possibilities if more retiring farmers passed on their knowledge, and their farms, to aspiring and new farmers.

What Motivates Young Farmers to Farm?

Young farmers identified a number of motivating factors in their decision to farm (Table 3.1). The most commonly mentioned motivation was family, that is, that they value being able to work near their parents, children, or other family members. Some also indicated that they were happy to be able to raise their children on the farm and instil in them the value of hard work. All but one of the young farmers indicated that they would like to see their children farm in the future. The second most common motivator is the quiet life that farming affords and living in close proximity to nature. They talked about valuing the privacy of rural living, working with their animals, and connecting with nature. The third most common motivating factor was the diverse set of skills and tasks associated with farming and a sense of pride. For example, they spoke about the satisfaction of watching things grow, feeding people, and being proud of the work that they do as farmers. They also indicated that they appreciate being able to do something different each day and that they are constantly learning new things.

Fig. 3.3

The distribution of direct marketers within the four production categories. For the purpose of this study, direct marketers are classified as any farmer that markets 51 per cent or more of their products directly to the consumer. This can be through, for example, u-picks, community-supported agriculture (CSA) programmes, or farmers’ markets

Table 3.1 Young farmer motivations

Table 3.1 also indicates a number of other important motivations that young farmers articulated. Some farmers conveyed a feeling of altruism or social responsibility when they talked about their role and the need to farm in a sustainable way for the continued health of the land and for the next generation of farmers. Interestingly, social responsibility was mentioned by 85 per cent of direct market farmers, while only 40 per cent of conventional market farmers mentioned this as a motivation. Many of the continuing young farmers mentioned that their parents enabled or required them to farm while also stating that their parents instilled in them a love for farming at a young age or gave them financial or other necessary supports as they entered into farming.⁸ Being their own boss and setting their own work schedule was important to almost half of the participants as they appreciate the autonomy that farming affords. Finally, some young farmers indicated that they are motivated to farm because it is viable or profitable for them. It is important to note that when farmers talked about viability, they were not necessarily pointing to the profitability of farming. That is, they were not speaking directly about making money; instead, they talked about farming as a sustainable livelihood for them and their families.

Barriers to Farming

Young Manitoba farmers face myriad barriers in entering and continuing to farm. Although the challenges they face are complex and, in some cases, specific to their unique pathways and situations as farmers, Table 3.2 lists 12 of the main barriers that farmers raised during our interviews and we discuss the 5 that emerged as being the most important.

Table 3.2 Key barriers identified by young farmers in Manitoba

Access to Farmland

Access to land was the barrier mentioned most frequently during the interviews with 41 out of 48 young farmers mentioning this as a barrier at least once (Table 3.2). Gaining access to land as a barrier was common across all farm sizes, marketing strategies, and production categories. Young farmers in Manitoba are accessing land in diverse ways and many farmers simultaneously own, rent, and share the land that they farm. Our study shows that 76 per cent of the young farmers interviewed own land, while 70 per cent rent at least some of the land that they farm. Only five young farmers inherited land, although 32 of the young farmers indicated that they were likely to inherit some land in the future. All of the young farmers who said that they had already inherited or were likely to inherit land were from a farming family or married into a farming family. The 13 young farmers who indicated that they are not likely to inherit land include 6 new entrants to farming and seven farmers who come from farm families but either started their farm completely independent from their parents or their family farm shut down before they re-entered agriculture.

Among some of the specific barriers related to accessing farmland were the rising price of farmland, increased competition for land, large corporate farms exercising their buying power to secure land, private farmland sales, less availability of farmland overall, the insecurity associated with renting land, and the inability to access credit and/or build the capital required to buy land. In summarizing some of the key issues related to land, a conventional grain farmer put it like this:

It’s getting more and more unobtainable, even to rent. It’s very competitive, very cut throat. I’ve even been told by someone, who will remain anonymous, that I’m stepping on people’s toes because I went and bid on a piece of land. But, you know, if land is at $6500 an acre, I don’t see how a young farmer can afford to buy land, so what do you think we’re going to do? We have to try to rent it.

An older organic farmer explained that the imperative to expand the farm continues to direct farmers’ actions:

[There is] pressure from the megafarms, the really big farms, to buy land. The big farms are in a position where, if they don’t expand, they are going to go bankrupt and so they are expanding, and that leaves no land, or very little land, for the young farmer and it also drives the price up, above the cost of production. So, you are going into debt to buy a piece of land that is not going to make enough to pay your payments. So it’s pretty hard to find land.

A conventional grain and livestock farmer agreed with this and linked the price of farmland to the lack of new farmers in her area:

There are no newcomers that are coming to agriculture … I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to farm with my dad because if there is somebody my age who does not come from a farming family, with the price of land and equipment, you don’t really have a chance, unless you’re really wealthy, to buy farmland and start a farm. I don’t know if there’d be an opportunity for new young people to come [here] and farm.

The most common barrier to accessing land was accessing the necessary credit and capital to purchase land when the prices are so high. We found that 69 per cent of the time when a young farmer was speaking about accessing land as a barrier, they talked about land as it relates to finances.

Access to Credit and Financial Management

The second most important barrier for young farmers is accessing credit and managing finances. Again, this was a common barrier mentioned across all farming styles, marketing strategies, and sizes. Young farmers indicated that they are struggling with increasing debt loads, efforts to build capital and equity, accessing financing, difficulties in understanding financial management, and issues related to cash flow. A supply-managed dairy farmer, for example, explained that the key problem is acquiring “equity to buy quota. The knowledge you can get, there’re lots of people around who can help you gain the knowledge you need to be a dairy farmer, and there’s a lot of great herdsmen out there who would be great farmers. But they just don’t have the equity to actually do it.”

This same farmer went on to explain that although the Manitoba New Entrant programme for dairy farmers was a big help, one still needs a lot of money to get started in the province. A conventional grain farmer explained her struggle to build equity and access credit:

When I first started, I kept wanting to buy land and I just didn’t have enough equity. You rent land and you can’t borrow enough money to put enough inputs in the ground to grow your crop. It was a constant battle to come up with the revenues to be able to plant the crop and get established, and then build equity so that you could buy land. I would say in my experience that’s the biggest barrier of getting in; it is just getting established without [already] having someone in the industry.

While this particular young farmer did have help from her father in the industry, she is sympathetic to those trying to begin farming without that support.

A MASC representative and farmer, whose job it is to review applications for loans and farm support, believes that:

In Manitoba … you’re either getting to the corporate farm type structure or the small direct marketing …. I think that’s kind of where we’re gonna end up, is either big or small, and I don’t know if the margins are better or worse on either side, but you can’t buy a million dollar combine if you’re not running over enough acres to sustain it.

Furthermore, he acknowledged that young farmers need to have some capital, education, and experience to access financial support programmes, further limiting the ability of new entrants to secure financing:

They would need a down payment, for sure; there’s just no way you can borrow money without some form of down payment. Now MASC programmes are a little bit more favourable … because we do just require 20 per cent now. Some of our young farmer programmes can be eligible for as little as 10 per cent down, but you do have to have the financial strength and business plan, goal, and knowledge to be able to qualify for that …. [E]ducation would be another one you probably need, to have some form of experience or education to be able to be considered viable, right?

Although the same representative said MASC tries to “make it economical for people to borrow money” by having 25-year fixed interest rates, no pre-payment penalties, and low application fees, he stressed that young farmers still need to be aware of the risks of farming as they enter these financial agreements: “Sometimes I wonder if the really new farmers understand what they’re getting into because the machinery costs are so high, the land prices are so high, the input costs are so high. I don’t know if they really fully understand what happens if you don’t get a crop.”

Government Regulations and Policies

The third most common barrier that young farmers in Manitoba identified is government regulations or programmes. Many young farmers felt that there are no political parties that really understand the needs of young farmers. As one farmer put it:

Some of them [politicians] use [farmer interests] for their benefit, to get the vote. But, in terms of actual action, I haven’t really seen in recent history any party that’s really jumped, that’s really tried to understand the issues enough to really do something … I don’t believe … just because you have less taxes on farmers, that all of a sudden everyone’s just going to be hunky dory.

A significant number of those interviewed expressed the view that young farmers in Manitoba are not feeling heard or understood by their political representatives and policy makers. As one alternative livestock farmer stated: “No government that I know of is trying to address the looming succession crisis in most of the western world …. There are no programmes to help starting or new entrants in farming. Provincial, federal … you have to be moneyed to a certain extent and established to a certain extent to be able to access those programmes.”

Supply management and regulations were other important barriers that young farmers mentioned. Small-scale farmers, in particular, found the regulations restrictive primarily because they do not recognize different farm scales and stages. For example, a new entrant said that she and her partner “support supply management as a national protection … but it’s not set up appropriately for new entrants who are also having tenure issues and financing issues to get in.”

It is not only dairy producers that are affected by these issues; a vegetable grower who sells his produce using a community-supported agriculture (CSA) model explained the difficulties that he faces:

[The] current cap on potato acres and carrot acres is detrimental. We’re only allowed to do five acres of potatoes and after that we have to get a quota from Peak of the Market. Once you do Peak of the Market, then you can only sell through Peak of the Market. And that changes your whole pricing. So, as soon as you get past five acres and you get to six, your selling price drops and then you have to compete with the bigger guys, so you either go from five acres and you’d have to do at least 60 or 70. As soon as you start doing that, you have to start thinking chemicals and it just changes everything. So, it’s quite frustrating. That policy just protects the larger farms and that drives me nuts.

Even conventional farmers who perhaps fit more readily within government policies and regulations are sensitive to the struggles that new entrants and small-scale producers face. A young conventional grain farmer stated that:

Government programmes are usually geared towards larger farmers. So FCC [Farm Credit Canada] has an option that we’ve been able to access, non-interest loans … So if we have a good financial stance, they can offer interest-free loans. In my mind that should be offered to those passionate young new entrant farmers first. But it’s a huge security risk. But the other security risk is not having farmers.

An older conventional grain farmer who has been involved with policy development through Keystone Agricultural Producers for the past 20 years lamented the lack of equal access to programmes and support for small-scale farmers versus large-scale farmers, stating that all young farmers matter: “And I really think that if you’re a young farmer and you’re willing to farm, then you should have equal access to all these programmes. Whether you farm 5 acres of sweet corn or raspberries, direct marketed, or you farm 35,000 acres, you know, it doesn’t matter. You’re still a young person farming.”

Social Isolation

When I started farming, let’s say in a five-mile radius, there might have been 40 farmers. Now there’re four left. (Older farmer)

Manitoba farmers are feeling the impacts of bigger and fewer farms in the province as rural communities become more spread out, their neighbours are further away, and there are fewer opportunities to build community. An older alternative farmer talks about how social isolation occurring in rural communities prompted him to change production models: “There is no sense of community anymore. So that got me irritated that that part was taken away from farming. So that’s why I went to micro-farming if you want to call it that, where you get to see your end consumer, you get to know the people you’re delivering to.”

Social isolation was mentioned by 77 per cent of the small-scale, direct marketers, while only 40 per cent of the conventional marketers mentioned isolation as a barrier. An alternative vegetable farmer who is a new entrant talked about how difficult it has been considering the lack of communication and interaction in his rural community: “Especially in the winter time, I find that I’m just living here alone … the neighbours are all really nice, but there’s no interaction other than the odd hello kind of thing. And I feel like everyone just sticks to themselves. Yeah actually, I find it pretty tough.”

An organic vegetable farmer who is a new entrant through marriage talks about the struggles of living rurally, especially since they are surrounded by large farms that have very different goals and strategies than they do on their own farm: “Mine would definitely be the lack of community that, you know, you see in other provinces. Farms like ours would be surrounded with other farms like ours, a different type of agriculture but still small scale, like-minded.” Her husband agreed with her and explained that although there are many small-scale farms in Manitoba, they are too spread out to really form a cohesive community.

Succession

The barriers identified by the nine older farmers that we interviewed are in line with those identified by young farmers; older farmers pointed to access to finances and credit as the most common barrier with land at a close second. However, difficulties with succession planning took precedence over government regulations and policies, probably reflecting the fact that many older farmers are currently staring at the very real prospect of retiring in the near future. Many older farmers struggled with ensuring that their succession planning was fair for all their children, especially in cases where one child is farming and the others are working in the city: “That’s the million-dollar question, figuring out how to make things fair. You know, fair doesn’t mean equal, but how do you make things fair for everybody—those questions are not all answered yet.”

A young conventional grain farmer echoed similar concerns as he and his family work out their own succession planning:

It’s way more complicated than we ever thought it would be … My parents have a fairly good definition of equal versus fair. It’s not necessarily going to be equal, it’s going to be fair. Which means, theoretically, I’ll get more in to the farm because I put in to build it and if I hadn’t, it wouldn’t have grown as quickly. But it also wouldn’t be fair for my sisters to get nothing.

Meanwhile, an older alternative livestock farmer is creating a succession plan with a young couple to whom he is not related in order to ensure that the farm will continue into the future:

I don’t know that I ever really thought about it that much. What’s important to me, more than anything, is to see that the land continues to be farmed in the way you want it to be farmed. From that point of view, it’s seeking somebody with a similar mindset and management philosophies. That’s really what drives it, it’s not about the money, it’s not about being able to live beyond the grave or anything. It’s just a desire to see the land protected in the sort of multi-generational mindset we’ve had.

Although this kind of arrangement is rare, it does offer solutions to some of the barriers that first-generation entrants are facing as well as the challenges faced by farmers who want to retire without seeing their farm disappear.

Discussion

Our research reveals that young farmers in Manitoba come from diverse upbringings and entered into agriculture via distinct pathways and that these are heavily influenced by whether one has historical connections to farming, comes from an urban or rural setting, and is a man or a woman. In addition, the pathways deeply influence the type and scale of agriculture that are available to young farmers. For example, a young person entering agriculture without any previous connection to a farm has to acquire land, machinery, and knowledge, while someone coming from a farm family may access these resources somewhat more readily. The financial requirements to get into conventional farming mean that this type of agriculture is essentially off limits to new entrants. There are a number of young people in Manitoba who have grown up on conventional farms and are poised to take over from their parents; however, as land prices continue to rise and farms continue to increase in size, there are fewer and fewer farmers.

Although this process may create “efficiencies” by increasing economies of scale (Pouliot 2011; Weis 2012), it ultimately benefits the dominant agri-business companies that control much of the agriculture sector in Canada, leaving farmers overworked, stressed, and in debt (Bacon and Brewin 2008; Qualman et al. 2018). With each generation that ceases to farm, there is a loss of generations of knowledge about the land and farming, and the vitality of rural communities is further jeopardized (Laforge et al. 2017). This has left some feeling pessimistic about a future in agriculture in the province (Bacon and Brewin 2008).

Many of the young farmers we interviewed said that their own parents had not encouraged them to do so. For example, a young organic vegetable farmer from a multi-generation farm who we interviewed said that parents in his family, for generations, have urged their children not to farm. Meanwhile, when asked if he believes that young people see a promising or attractive future in farming in Manitoba, the instructor involved with a university farm who we spoke with said: “I don’t. I don’t, and I lament that … I think I’m always amazed when young people find their way into it.”

Yet, there is good reason to feel positive about and for young farmers in Manitoba. The latest Census of Agriculture demonstrates an 11 per cent increase in young farmers in the province. An older farmer who we spoke with who works as a succession planning consultant said: “When you said at the outset that this whole study is around the concern that there aren’t going to be enough young farmers … that’s totally not my reality. And when you look at the dynamic of the farmers who you’ll be interviewing in this area, there’s heaps of young farmers here. Heaps and heaps of them.”

Additionally, the majority of the 48 young farmers we interviewed indicated they are strongly motivated to farm by the lifestyle that farming affords in terms of family time, opportunities for learning every day, managing their own time, carrying on traditions, and being advocates for the environment. These motivations suggest that they are in it for the long haul. Significantly, all but one of the young farmers in our study indicated that they would like their children to farm.

All young farmers in our study who are currently taking over the family farm come from conventional or supply-managed farms and thus are engaged in agricultural practices involving more intensive livestock raising, synthetic/chemical inputs, and distant markets.⁹ However, the majority expressed worries about the public’s perceptions of the environmental and health consequences of these practices. There are also some who are aware of the unsustainable aspects of conventional farming; for example, one conventional grain farmer working 2500 acres of grains and legumes said: “When you read the statistics about how much fossil fuels we use on every acre for our fertilizer and our chemical, and transporting those products, I found it unbelievable. I think we can reduce that, produce our own nitrogen, have healthy soil. I think that’s something to strive for.”

Meanwhile, first-generation farmers are engaging in small-scale and ecologically sustainable farming, perhaps due to their own morals and interests in creating food system change or because they have insufficient capital. While the lack of access to the resources needed for conventional farming does limit options for new and young farmers, it also provides opportunities to build more sustainable food systems at a smaller scale, as young people entering the sector are increasingly using organic or alternative methods to produce food while also engaging with and selling directly to consumers, thus building rural-urban connections and creating more opportunities for food literacy. If the new entrants represented in our study and others across Canada (Haalboom 2013; Laforge et al. 2017, 2018) are any indication of the future of agriculture in Manitoba, then the future holds some promise for more small-scale farms producing for local markets. However, for these to flourish, appropriate government policies are needed.

Although there are clear distinctions in Manitoba agriculture in terms of the size of farms, goals, and production models, government policies fail to distinguish between the two existing agricultural paradigms: small-scale for local markets and medium- to large-scale conventional production for distant markets. Consequently, most policies do not address the specific needs of the different types of farmers and are most often biased towards larger-scale industrial farms producing for distant markets. For example, earlier research on the impact of the regulatory framework on small-scale farmers in Manitoba (Laforge et al. 2017; Sivilay 2019) and interviews with direct marketers in our study reveal that small-scale farmers struggle to afford, understand, and abide by regulations that are simply not applicable to their production methods and marketing strategies.

While these two agricultural paradigms are not in competition with each other in terms of the markets they target, they do, however, compete for land and other resources. The larger-scale conventional farmers are much more likely to have generations of farm experience and greater access to resources (land, credit, knowledge) that are critical to helping them become established, whereas the small-scale new entrant has little to fall back on. Policy makers need to recognize that by pitting the distinct types of producers against one another while prioritizing one type of farming over another, it is the small-scale farmers that are disadvantaged. Conventional and direct market farmers in our study both voiced concern for a lack of young farmers and called for equal access to programmes and financial assistance, even for new entrants who may not have the same experience and collateral as larger farmers.

Conclusion

Much of the recent research in Canada about young and new/beginner farmers focuses on a particular voice—that of the farmer growing on a small scale and producing for local markets. While this is a critically important part of the farming sector since it is central to a growing local food movement that emphasizes food sovereignty and environmental well-being, it is not the only voice of young farmers. The life stories of 48 young farmers in the province indicate that they come from diverse upbringings, have different levels of experiences and varying motivations, and they are engaging in different kinds of agricultural models. While there are important, powerful tensions and differences between small-scale producers engaged in local direct marketing and those who engage in medium to large-scale conventional farming for distant markets, they do share some similar challenges. As the price of farmland continues to rise, start-up and input costs become ever more burdensome, and current government policy is inadequate and works to create and/or perpetuate inequalities in the countryside, young farmers producing food and commodities often feel like they are left to fend for themselves.

This points to the need for a more wholistic approach that recognizes the diversity of farmers who are attempting to make a living from farming. As Ngo and Brklacich argue in their study of Ontario farmers:

An “us” versus “them” mentality may offer the path of least resistance; however, the future of these various agricultural actors are intricately linked through the space they share. It would seem that there is an opportunity to engage different members of the rural farming community in the LFM [local food movement] conversations. This would not necessarily be about finding a united voice but more about moving across boundaries, finding commonalities, and pioneering collaborations that have the potential to strengthen the resiliency of rural communities as a whole. (2014, 65)

Considering that Manitoba has lost 70 per cent of its young farmers over the last three decades (Statistics Canada 2018), an approach in farm activism, research, and policy that focuses on recognizing differences, establishing commonalities, and fostering collaboration may well contribute to regenerating agriculture into the future and ensuring vibrant and thriving rural communities for the remaining young farmers in the province.