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Area One

Joelle Faulkner featured in Women in Ag’s Quarterly Journal

Joelle Faulkner featured in Women in Ag’s Quarterly Journal


Joelle Faulkner was recently included as a Woman to Watch in the latest issue of Women in Agribusiness‘ quarterly journal. When asked what advice she’d give for someone following her path, she says:

“Every time you say yes to something, you need to say no to something else, so it is important that you decide what is critical for success. In our case, it was critical to determine how to share value between our farm partners and our investors in a way that creates value so that both parties end up better off than they were without the other. Maintaining that view and partnership structure, however, has not been easy because much of the world operates with the idea that more for me has to be less for you.”

Follow this link to read the full interview: Woman in Agribusiness Q1 2018

Area One Farms Research 2017: Cover Crops

A small bit of seed for a large area

What’s Up?

Our Cover Crops have been planted and their coming up! East view: 20 acres of Ultimate Forage Blend, 20 acres of Pinpoint Blend. Down to Earth, 20 acres of Ultimate Forage Blend with one tillage style and 32 acres of Ultimate Forage Blend with a different tillage style.

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Area One Farms Research 2017: Tillage

Area One Farms Research 2017: Tillage

Trouble with Tillage

We set out to put in cover crops, in the Eastview Plots that meant pre-spray. In the Down to Earth plots that meant tillage because these plots are in transition to organic and have been in grass. It has not been straight forward (neither have the spayed cover crops, but more on that in our next blog)!

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Area One Farms Research 2017: Seeding

What’s Up?

Seeding time for grains is just over and our research plots with grains are seeded and already emerging! We seeded 6 plots to wheat and two to soybeans with our John Deere 1590 single disk drill. The plots are now ready for a summer of testing and comparison.

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Area One Farms Joins United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment

Area One Farms is pleased to announce that it has qualified to become a signatory and has signed the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment Initiative (UN PRI).

Founded in 2006, UN PRI is a network of global investors committed to working together to put principles of responsible investing into practice. Signatories follow a set of six principles that protect the environment, benefit society, and promote sound governance through integrity and transparent reporting.

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A Billion Dollars for Northern Ontario Agriculture

Would you invest a billion dollars in Northern Ontario agriculture? 

If your answer is no, you may want to reconsider.

The combination of rising global population and financial uncertainty make farmland a safe bet. Nowhere is that more true than in Canada, which enjoys abundant arable land, ample rainwater, developed infrastructure, and a long tradition of expert farming. Northern Ontario has all of Canada’s advantages, and then some. It is also one of the largest agricultural development opportunities in the world.

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Farmer-Centric Capital Puts Ownership Within Reach

For those concerned about the future of Canadian farming, the inability of farmers to capitalize their own farm is a serious issue.

Land ownership is the most stable and lucrative part of farming; without a pathway towards it, many people who want to farm will inevitably choose other business opportunities, typically outside of their communities.

The future of family farming in Canada thus depends on farmers accessing the kind of farmer-centric capital that puts them in a position to own.

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Ownership is at the Heart of Canadian Farming

The scale and cost of modern operations are changing Canadian farming. Land, machinery, and inputs require such large capital investment that farmers are left asking fundamental questions: How will they purchase enough acres to give their children the farming opportunity that their parents provided? How can children ever accumulate enough equity to build a farm themselves? What will it mean for future generations of family farmers and their communities if institutional investors make a landlord tenant model the new norm in Canadian agriculture?

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There are More than Two Types of Farmers

Reports this week out of Saskatchewan tend to group farmers in two opposing categories. Farmer ‘A’ is an older farmer who wants to sell his farm. Farmer ‘A’ supports pension fund ownership of farmland because bigger investors drive up the price of farmland. Farmer ‘Z’ is a young farmer looking to buy into a farm. Farmer ‘Z’ wants to restrict large institutional investors to keep land prices low.

This simple story may sell papers, but it misses the bigger picture.

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