The prospect of farming in the Great Clay Belt

It’s an area larger than the total acreage now farmed in Ontario, yet the prospect of clearing, tiling and bringing the 16 million acres of the Great Clay Belt to productivity is questionable, if not daunting.

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It has taken producers in Ontario’s ‘Near North’ region of Temiskaming Shores, Earlton and Englehart more than 50 years to bring beef and crop production to the district and the Clay Belt may be the next region for development.

Stretching just west of Hearst into northwestern Quebec, it varies in width from roughly 25 to 150 kilometres. Estimates on how much of that area is workable range from four million to considerably more.

Concerns with climate change, the prospect of breeding shorter-season cropping options and the price of land are key factors cited in the rationale for developing the region. But it will also require a different approach to cropping, easier access to Crown land, and time.

Kapuskasing and Cochrane are the largest towns in the area. Kap, as it’s known, is near the centre of the Clay Belt and was once home to an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research facility, which the town purchased in 2015. Most of the farms established there decades ago have become overgrown and forgotten.

Jim Rogers is trying to remedy that situation. He moved his family from North Battleford, Sask., to the former research farm. The land was cleared and has a rail spur that joins the CN/CP main line running along Highway 11. Last year, he unloaded his combine directly into six rail cars and sent them to Earlton.

“We have infrastructure that we didn’t have to build and it’s helped a lot,” says Rogers, who works 1,200 acres compared to the 1,000 he owned and 14,000 he rented out west.

“The land is cheap here and in Saskatchewan you have to compete so hard for it because everyone is trying to expand their farm.”

The 2020 growing season was the last in North Battleford for Rogers, his wife Selina, daughter Brina and sons Paul, Craig and Seth. Now he’s trying to establish efficiency with his acreage.

He also recognizes the challenge of buying more land. Availability isn’t the issue. There is Crown land in and around Kapuskasing, and the process to lease and clear it before owning it can be more than most are willing to endure.

“There won’t be any growth unless the provincial government figures that out,” says Rogers. “I’m excited about the opportunity but I can’t tell anybody to come here because there’s no land.”

Other parts of the district show signs of expansion around Matheson, south of Cochrane, which has attracted Mennonite farmers from southern Ontario.

“I’m hopeful the government will make a decision to release some land,” says Rogers. “There can be a balance between Kap and Hearst, if they could release 150,000 acres. That’s not going to go very far off the highway.”

The region at a glance

Kapuskasing or Cochrane may seem too far north for some, yet most of the Clay Belt is farther south in latitude than Winnipeg or Regina. The region’s main challenge is its proximity to Hudson Bay, where crop heat units range between 2000 and 2100, and some years are as low as 1800. That compares to the 2200 to 2300 CHUs in Temiskaming Shores, according to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Other detractors cite the isolation of Hearst or Kapuskasing, yet farmers in Earlton or Englehart point out that distance is a relative concept: couriers can deliver needed materials within 72 hours.

Ministry literature cites the shorter growing season but expresses hope for positive effects from climate change. According to an OMAFRA document on beef production in the region, Hudson Bay has a cooling effect, which is more prominent around Kapuskasing than North Bay. But in the past several decades, ice on Hudson Bay is forming later in fall and melting earlier in spring.

Funding initiatives

Garnering interest in the region is a priority for OMAFRA and the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance. Both want to see the region developed.

The Ontario government has contributed a patchwork of funding projects in the past five years, including portions of $6 million announced late last year for tile drainage projects across the northeast. That helped dozens of producers around Cochrane.

Since 2018, the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation has invested more than $176 million in more than 1,200 projects across Northern Ontario, including the Clay Belt. Statistics gathered since 2008 show northern Ontario has increased acreage of corn, soybeans, wheat, oats and canola, jumping from 53,000 acres to 102,756. Production has also more than doubled from 2.6 million bushels to six million.

The most important initiative at this point relates to tile drainage. Many acknowledge the potential like the soil type, the sheer size of the Clay Belt and land pricing, but the challenge in procuring land – particularly Crown land – is slowing the pace of development due to its complexity.

(In our next article, we’ll provide perspectives from those who’ve succeeded in the (Near) North and the cropping options that may work.)