Here’s another sign of agriculture returning to this part of Northeastern Ontario. A company that builds farms wants to put one on what is now a piece of Crown land near Val Gagné.
Claymeer Farms is the company, with agricultural investment specialist Area One Farms participating.
Area One CEO Joelle Faulkner says it would produce typical crops. “Wheat, canola, oats, really traditional row crop commodities.”
Preparation of the land would include installing tile drainage, because of clay and rainfall.
“Roots do better and then as a result, plants do better with the roots having access to oxygen,” Faulkner explains, “and so it clears more air space into the soil when you have drainage.”
Faulkner says all the jobs created would be local, from farm development through production, equipment, and transporting the crops to market.
She notes that rail and natural gas infrastructure are already in place.
“Just a tremendous amount of capacity in that area and services,” she adds. “None of the jobs that would normally be in a rural community will be anywhere else, because that’s where all of the farming and infrastructure development and opportunity is.”
If the partners do acquire the land, Faulkner says crop production could begin within three years.