Research Paper Draft
Sbrain1722
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Introduction
Farming methods have changed over the centuries, especially in the past century with the
introduction of the combustion engine to drive the farm equipment. The changing technology
used in agriculture changed the appearance of the rural landscape. There are “distinctive
cultural imprints that evolve through time as a result of technological changes made primarily
in response to economic realities” (Sando, 2011, p.10). In Canada rural landscapes have gone
through significant changes from the post World War II era to the modern day (Beauliew,
2014). These changes are easily visible while traveling through a rural landscape in Canada; the
changing building types are noticeable, the field sizes are getting larger, and the number of
homesteads is declining. Troughton (1995) notes that during this time of mechanization of
farms, there occurred a distinct division of rural areas into periphery areas that did not respond
as well to machine and fertilizer and into the core regions with high capability soil, located
mainly in the southern prairies and the Great Lakes area. Rural areas in core areas close to
urban centers become urbanized while rural areas in the periphery are often abandoned and
neglected. In both areas the size of the farm operations is increasing and small farms are
disappearing. (Statistics Canada, 2016, 2017). This paper will explore the reasons for declining
family farms, the resulting abandoned land and homesteads and on the other hand the
increasing size of farm operations. The main focus of the paper will be Hillgrove, a small
community in Westmorland County, in the periphery area in South-‐Eastern New Brunswick,
Canada (Figure 1) and compare what is happening in Hillgrove to New Brunswick in general.
Figure 1. The location of Hillgrove, 40 km West of Moncton, in South Eastern New Brunswick. Source: Google Maps.
Theoretical framework: Changing Rural Geographies in North America
Agriculture is not only a sector of the economy, but also a way of life that produces particular
landscapes. Linnea Sando (2011) argues that the 19th century agricultural landscape changed
through the invention of haying machinery and technology. Those changes, she notes are
particularly visible on the landscape in the building types used to store the crops and
machinery. Further, she states, while technology made agriculture more efficient and resulted
in massive increases in food production, it also had negative impacts on the economy,
transforming the economy to one that required a much smaller work force, which resulted in
job losses in rural areas and a decrease in the rural population.
Michael Troughton (1995) in his work on rural Canada explores the historical aspect of
the decline of farm operations in Canada. He notes the decline of farms in the 20th century and
the division of core and periphery agricultural area and how they developed differently. Moving
to contemporary agriculture in Canada, Bryant and Joseph (2001) investigate the demographic
changes happening in rural Canada, such as declining population number and an ageing rural
population. They attribute the decline of the rural population to migration and aging. They
consider the lack of opportunities for post-‐secondary education and jobs as a reason for
migration away from rural areas. The aging of the rural population is a result of the family sizes,
and lack of opportunities according to Bryant and Joseph, although they do not really consider
the impact of the advanced technology and the cost thereof on the rural population.
Methods
The impact and reasons for the loss of farm operations and the growing size of some farm
operations are diverse and a result of a combination of different factors (Beauliew, 2014). To
understand the development better, a combination of different methods was used. To explore
the impact fewer and larger farming operations has on the landscape a field excursion was
done in Hillgrove, where observations were noted and documented with images. On Sunday
April 9th, 2018, I walked west from 4pm to 6pm along Route 890 and on Monday April 10th I
walked east from 5pm to 6pm, in total covering approximately a 5 km stretch (Figures 2 and 3).
This information was combined with my personal knowledge of the land ownership in the area.
I also conducted interviews conducted with four resident farmers on May 6th and 7th 2017 to
gain a better understanding of how much farms have grown, why farmers expand or abandon
farming, and to speculate on the overarching reasons for the development. Each interview
followed a set of question regarding the size of farm, followed by open ended questions
regarding the decline or growth of farm operation and the possible causes.
Data from Statistics Canada was also used to examine the demographic and economic
trends affecting the Hillgrove area. Furthermore, property maps from Service New Brunswick
showing the divisions of farms were consulted and properties belonging to the same owner
were marked, to show the increase in farm size. Other documents used included research
reports that investigated changing agricultural geographies in other regions.
Figure 2. A satellite image of Hillgrove. Visible on the map is rural Route 890. Source: Google Maps.
Figure 3. Image of Route 890 near Hillgrove, New Brunswick. Source: Author.
Results and Discussion: Decline of Farms in Hillgrove
In Hillgrove many small farms are abandoned, while others are used as residences and the land
it rented. Walking along the Route 890, the decline of some farms is clearly visible, while a
couple large farms thrive, grow larger and continue to expand. This trend impacts the local
community, demographics, and the social economic standing of people residing in Hillgrove.
During the field excursion three abandoned houses were noted (Figure 4). All three houses
used to be homesteads of farms. The farmland that once belonged to those farms is now being
worked by a larger neighboring farmer. Since the field excursion, one of the abandoned houses,
shown in the center of Figure 4, was burnt down in a controlled burn. The abandoned house in
Figure 4 on the left is now under renovations, to hopefully serve as a residence once again. The
third, shown on the right in Figure 4 is still standing abandoned, awaiting its fate.
Figure 4. Three abandoned houses in Hillgrove. Source: Author.
Several farm houses were observed that are used solely as residences, as the occupants
are no longer involved in farming activities. The lack of farming activity on those homesteads
was evident by a lack of farm buildings and/or farm machinery. The land of those farms has
been sold, is being rented to a larger farmer in the area or is being left abandoned. The
abandoned fields contribute to the loss of total land farmed in New Brunswick. The increased
automobile traffic along the rural road 890 from residences that make the daily trip to work in
Moncton impacts the landscape as well. The side of the road and the ditch is littered with
garbage. The increased traffic also poses a risk for wildlife and domestic animals crossing the
road, often resulting in dead animals on the side of the road, which in turn attract more
scavengers.
One large farm in Hillgrove is no longer actively managed by its elderly owner and the
fields lie abandoned. This is obvious from the several year old hay bales that lie strewn across
the fields and the condition of the barns, as shown in Figure 5. This farmer has not kept
livestock in the past 3 years and this is not likely to change until the land is sold. Some of the
barns in Hillgrove that do not belong to an active farm are in disrepair. The owners no longer
use them; one farmer mentioned during the interview that he has no incentive to maintain the
barns. He does not want to invest into a farm building that he no longer uses or needs. One
former farmer stated during the interview that after losing his large barn in a fire, he could not
afford to rebuilt, which resulted in a farm that lacks the necessary buildings to function as a
working farm. The couple of large existing farms have built new barns in addition to the old
ones. The old barns are no longer practical to store the silage, which is stored in long rows on
the field. The farmers still use the old barns as storage for farming implements, and other
machinery. The new barns are built with high ceilings for cooling and large windows to allow
daylight in for the animals. These new buildings change the appearance of the farms and the
surrounding landscape.
Figure 5. A farm belonging to a former elderly farmer who no longer farms, leaving the fields and barns abandoned.
Changing Farm Sizes in New Brunswick and in Hillgrove Specifically
The number of farm operations decline by 13.6% in New Brunswick from 2011 to 2016
(Statistics Canada, 2017). This is the second largest decrease among Canadian provinces during
that time period. Figure 6 shows the steady decline of farm operation in New Brunswick from
1921 to 2016. Though the rate of decline appears to be slowing compared to the 1960s and
1970s, the decrease from 2011 to 2016 has been larger than in the previous 5 year period
(Statistics Canada, 2016). During the same period, the size of the farm operations in New
Brunswick increased, from 359 acres in 2011 to 370 acres in 2016 (Statistics Canada, 2017).
According to Statistics Canada (2017) the size of the average farm in New Brunswick is less than
half the national average of 820 acres. This might be due to the topographical features such as
hill and rivers in New Brunswick and the lack of flat fields. Despite the increase in size of farm
operation, Statistics Canada (2017) reports that the total area farmed in New Brunswick
dropped by 10.9 %, which is the largest percentage drop in Canada. This is surprising
considering the population of New Brunswick declined over the same time period. (Statistics
Canada, 2017)
Figure 6. Total number of agricultural operations, New Brunswick, 1921 to 2016. Source: Statistics Canada, 2017).
Compared to the provincial average farm size, farms in Hillgrove that are currently
operated as a working farms are relatively large at 2000 acres and 500 acres. However as Figure
7 shows, there are many smaller farms, which are not actively farmed, and many of which are
overgrown with woods. The conversion of farmland to wood-‐land contributes to the loss of
land farmed in the Hillgrove area and in New Brunswick in general.
Figure 7. Map of registered properties in Hillgrove. The different colors represent the different farm owners. The green area represent wooded land. Source: Service New Brunswick, 2018.
Figure 7 shows the different large farms and the land ownership they have. The numbered lots
are individual properties as they were registered. The maps shows how the different properties
were bought up by a few individual farmers. Each color represents one owner. Many of the
smaller properties are used for residential purposes, and the land surrounding the residences is
overgrown with woodland. The trend of increased farm sizes and loss of farmland in Hillgrove
reflects the provincial trend, based on observations during the excursion and the data from
Statistics Canada.
Local Farmers and Former Farmers
Vignette 1
One of the great success stories of farming in the Hillgrove area is the Waldow farm. In 1973
the Waldows purchased a 100 acre farm in the Hillgrove area. They started milking 11 cows.
The number of cows milked increased drastically over the years from 11 in 1973 to 400 cows
today. In 2010 the Waldows built a new barn, shown in Figure 8, which allowed them to more
than double the number of cows. Similarly the acreage owned increased from the original 100
acres to 2000 acres today plus some additional land that is rented. Today, the farm is operated
by 4 members of the Waldow family and 8 employees.
Figure 8. Waldow Farms dairy barn built in 2010. Source: Author.
When the Waldows started farming in 1973, there were 10 to 12 dairy farmers in the
neighbourhood, but one by one they all stopped farming because of age, financial reasons, or
better work opportunities. As farmers went out of business they offered their land to the
Waldows, who often purchased the farm land. However, in an interview, one of the Waldows
mentioned the great burden of financial depth required to buy machinery and built modern
barns as a deterrent for new farmers and as a reason to abandon farming for existing farmers.
Vignette 2
The Wynes family story is both a story of farm decline and of a story of increase in farm size.
The Wynes farmed in the Hillgrove area from 1974, milking 35 cows and also keeping some
beef cattle on a 200 acre farm. They had a hard time paying the monthly mortgage payments
and supporting their family. After losing several calves in 1984 they had no choice but to sell
the farm. Nineteen years later in 2003, after working and establishing a company in Nunavut,
they returned to Hillgrove for retirement. They purchased a farm in Hillgrove close to their
former farm and kept a few horses. The number of horses kept increasing to 30 horses today.
As the herd increased so did the need for more farmland to feed the horses. They bought up
neighboring farms and added cattle to the livestock on the farm. They enjoys farming, despite
the fact that the farm is not financially profitable. Today they farm 500 acres and rent many
more acres on surrounding farms. The farm is operated by three generations of the Wynes
family. One grandson would like to take over the farming operation but would have to continue
working at his day job to make ends meet. The Wynes attribute the loss of farm operation to
the increased financial cost of farming and also the lack of government assistance in case of
crop failure or loss of livestock. They also blame government programs for supporting large
farm operations rather than small operations.
Vignette 3
The Wilz family purchased an 86 acre farm in Hillgrove in 2003. They boarded horses, bought
and sold horses, and started breeding horses. The income from the farm was not sufficient and
family members soon had to find work away from the farm to supplement the farming income.
In the winter of 2007 the large horse barn caught fire and burned to the ground. With the barn
burned all the hay for the winter and much of the equipment. Without insurance, the Wilz's
had no choice but to abandon farming and find work. They rented the land to the Wynes, who
also used the additional pasture for their horses. Today the farm land is still worked by the
Wynes family, while the house is used as a residence.
Age of Farmers in Hillgrove and New Brunswick
The number of farm operators declined from 2011 to 2016 by 13.4%, which is almost identical
to the decline of farm operations (Statistics Canada, 2017). The average age of farm operators
in New Brunswick increased only marginally from 55.5 in 2011 to 55.6 in 2016 (Statistics
Canada, 2017). While the farm operators between the ages of 35 and 55 continued to decline,
Statistics Canada (2017) also reported a positive increase in farm operators under 35 years old
from 6.4% in 2011 to 8.6% in 2016. This pattern is also visible in Hillgrove where the two largest
farms are operated by farmers over the age of 65, but there are also young farmers, under the
age of 35, who are farming alongside their parents and who are planning to continue farming in
the future.
Why Farms Operations are Disappearing
There is no doubt that the number of farm operations is decreasing and that the size of farm
operations is increasing in Hillgrove and New Brunswick in general. The reasons for this decline
and increase in size is less clear. The articles speculate on lack of opportunity for postsecondary
education and jobs, changing farming technology, and ageing of the rural population. In
contrast to the articles all farmers interviewed attribute the trend mostly to economic reasons.
Bryant and Joseph (2001) ascribe the decline of the rural population in periphery areas
to the lack of opportunity of post-‐secondary education and lack of jobs. The small family size,
combined with the out-‐migration of young people, they explain, is leaving an ageing population
behind in rural area. Both these trend, the out-‐migration of young people and an ageing
population, are present in Hillgrove. The closest post-‐secondary schools are located 40 km away
in Moncton, NB, resulting in young people moving away for their education and often not
moving back after graduation. Also the lack of job opportunities in Hillgrove results in young
people seeking jobs elsewhere. The lack of post-‐secondary education and job opportunities in
rural areas appears to be indirectly and possibly inversely related to the loss of farms in
Hillgrove. The increasing farm size needed to sustain an operation reduces the number of farm
operators and the advanced machinery decreases the human labor required to run an
operation, which results in a decrease of job opportunities. This results in fewer people living in
the area, decreasing the population of the community, which in turn is not able support schools
or sustain other businesses.
Sando (2011) explains the changes in the rural landscape in North America as a result of
the changing technology and machinery used to work the land. He argues that with the
improved machinery one person could do the work of teams. This pattern is visible in Hillgrove.
Figure 7 shows that today one farm operation owns several farms that used to be
independently farmed.
The advanced machinery however comes at a cost. In an interview, a Waldow family
member reasoned that the machinery is very expensive and requires the farmer to have a large
operation to afford the payments on the machinery. The advanced machinery allows the
farmers to work more acreage, and at the same time requires the farmer to work more land to
pay for the machinery.
Troughton (1995) explains that the increase in farm sizes resulted in the disintegration
of rural communities, due to out-‐migration. This results in a loss of community support system
for the farm operations and also decreases the sustainability of rural areas. According to
Troughton (1995) the Maritime provinces lost 58% of farmland and 73% of farm between 1951
and 1971. This loss is also illustrated in Figure 6. The decline continued but at a reduced rate.
The loss of rural communities makes it difficult for the remaining farmers to hire workers,
which encourages them to invest in more automatic machinery. This is a difficulty that is
experienced by Waldow Farms in Hillgrove, who have a hard time hiring workers.
Three of the four farmers interviewed gave up farming after suffering some misfortune,
death of livestock, infertile breeding season, or fire. Apparently there exists a lack of support
system for small farm operation. All farmers interviewed gave financial reasons as the reason
for abandoning farming, for expanding farming operation, and as generally the biggest concern.
They all agreed that it is financially impossible for a young person to start a farming operation,
if they didn’t inherit a farm from their parents.
The Waldows claim that a big task of operating a farm is the management of depth, and
this according to them is not for everyone. The farmers in the Hillgrove area either expanded
their operation or abandoned farming completely. The difference appears to be a combination
of luck and management skills.
Conclusion
Comparing the observations made during the field excursion and the information gathered
during the interviews with data from the 2016 agricultural census concludes that the situation
of Hillgrove is not unique and appears to reflect the trend in New Brunswick. It could be
reasoned that the advancement of machinery, led to increased farm sizes, and to increased
financial burden, which in turn caused farmers to either expand or give up on farming. The
increased financial burden on the farms made farm operations more vulnerable to crop failures
and loss of livestock. The farm land that becomes available from farmers who had abandoned
farming, became an opportunity to increase operations for the remaining farmers. The
increased size of farms and the huge initial cost of starting a farming operation is a big
deterrent for young people. The change in farm size and the small number of operational farms
changes the rural landscape, and the community in Hillgrove and all across New Brunswick.
This paper did not explore the impact of government programs offered to farmer and if
these programs gave some farmers an advantage over others. The different types of farming
were not considered as the focus area for this paper was too small. A larger focus area and a
division of farm types would be necessary to establish if some farm types are more likely to
survive and expand than others. Also, initial investment and the time of investment into
farming was not considered. The changing landscape was related to agriculture and did not
include other industries.
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Bryant, C., and Joseph, A.E. (2001). Canada’s rural population: Trends in space and implications in place. Canadian Geographer, 45(1), 132–137.
Sando, L.C. (2011). Landscape imprints of haying technology. Material Culture, 43(2), 6–24. Service New Brunswick. (2018). Property assessment information Retrieved from https://paol.snb.ca/.
Statistics Canada. (2016). 2011 census of agriculture: Highlights and analysis. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/ca2011/ha#a1-‐1-‐1.
Statistics Canada. (2017). Farm and farm operator Data, New Brunswick: 2016 Agricultural Census. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/95-‐640-‐x/2016001/article/14803-‐ eng.htm
Troughton, M.J. (1995). Rural Canada and Canadian rural geography: An Appraisal. Canadian Geographer, 39(4), 291-‐305.
