What is stopping expansion on crown land?

Thursday, October 23, 2025

Northern Farmers Want to Grow

By Emily Mckinlay

Crown land represents about 95 per cent of Northern Ontario. As farmers in the North look to expand their farms, some have become frustrated with the barriers limiting their access to Crown land.

Gerry Dinnissen, a crop farmer from Kapuskasing, says that it wasn’t always this difficult to expand their operation.

“We are sort of unique here in the North. There is very little private land to be had. Most of the uncropped land is Crown land,” says Dinnissen.

“If we want to expand, it’s virtually impossible without resorting to Crown land.

“We bought Crown land from the Ministry of Natural Resources in the late ’70s and early ’80s, and it was relatively simple then. You put your application in, they would lease it to you, and you would clear 30 acres. Once they deemed you had done enough work, they assigned a value, and you signed a cheque, and it was done.”

Dinnissen says that the administrators used to be accommodating, but claims that is no longer the case.

“Some farmers have been trying to access Crown land for many years,” says Emily Seed, executive director of Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance (NOFIA).

“Some producers who have put in their application have been waiting for 10 years or more to receive a decision. This is not a new issue.”

Farmers looking to expand have been left with few answers and limited options for growth.

Northern farms want to expand

As farmland is lost in Southern Ontario and land competition intensifies, some Southern farmers are looking at expansion in the North. At the same time, local Northern farmers need opportunities to expand their own operations.

Jason Desrochers is a beef farmer from Val Gagné who has also applied for Crown land.

“It’s important for Ontario to at least try to be self-sufficient. Since we are paving so much good farmland in Southern Ontario, we need to come up with new farmland. In Northern Ontario, if we can expand to do what we do well here – if we can grow more oats, barley, canola, and beef and dairy – we can offset and support Southern Ontario,” says Desrochers.

“That is what we have been fighting for up here. We are largely trying to get access to land previously patented as farmland – not virgin Crown land. There are thousands of acres that were previously farmed. They were given by the government to soldiers who went to war, and they were told if they cleared the land, it’s theirs.”

When more job opportunities opened up in factories and mines, many of these farmsteads were left with taxes unpaid and were returned to the Crown.

The Crown land that Dinnissen is interested in is adjacent to his current operation.

“The land abutting our property is marked for agricultural use in the Crown Land Use Policy Atlas. It should be readily available to farm, especially for a well-established farm that has been here for 70 years,” says Dinnissen.

“It has been about 10 years since we put the initial application in, and just last spring, we finally got a letter that was more or less saying, ‘no, it’s not available.’”

The MNRF (the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, not simply ‘MNR’ since a 2014 name change) states that Crown land is available for agricultural purposes, following provincial land-use plans, ministry policies, and environmental assessment requirements.

If the Crown land is available to farmers, why are so many being rejected – or perhaps not receiving a response at all?

No answers

Of the farmers who have had their applications for Crown land rejected, many feel they received an insufficient explanation.

Dinnissen aimed to purchase rather than lease the lot of Crown land he applied for.

“There was no real explanation. It was more or less just a decision they made to not release the lot at this time, but they said if we wanted to pursue a leasing option, we were able to do so,” says Dinnissen.

“We were more hesitant to go down that road with the investment involved. Many banks won’t loan money to develop acres you don’t own. I responded to the letter by expressing my disappointment and said that I wanted to hear more about leasing options, but they haven’t reached out again since the spring.”

While some producers, including Dinnissen, received rejections after nearly a decade, others have received unexpected explanations and have had challenges reaching MNRF staff to discuss the process.

“I applied for a Crown lot, and I went in wanting a long-term lease. I just want to pasture cattle so the long-term lease suits my needs,” says Desrochers.

“In the response letter I received, they said I was underutilizing the land I have. How I was using the land was determined from Google Earth. There’s a big chunk of wood in the middle of nowhere with wild cranberries and a lot of moss. From Google Earth, it looks like I didn’t clear it. They need to do more research if that’s going to be their excuse.”

Desrochers found it challenging to get in touch with MNRF staff to have a conversation outside of emails and online forms.

“No one would buy a house this way,” Desrochers says.

“We are wanting to sign long-term leases for 10 to 100 years or buy land for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and no one is coming out to look at the land.”

Bill Groenheide, OFA’s Zone 15 director representing Northern Ontario, sees the frustration that this situation has caused farmers.

“It is very frustrating for Northern farmers who are wanting to expand. The land is right next to them, and it belongs to the Crown, and the ministry isn’t even talking to them about it,” says Groenheide.

“How do we get over this hurdle? The next step is deciding how we work with the ministry. OFA, Beef Farmers of Ontario, Ontario Sheep Farmers, and Grain Farmers of Ontario have all put in submissions to the ministry and are asking why this land isn’t accessible. All these commodities are looking for answers.”

He adds, “There is work in progress by our staff – it’s not for a lack of trying. We need something to move along so that farmers who want to expand have the opportunity. It’s the frustration of having no answers.”

Changing the system

The current system of accessing Crown land is limiting Northern expansion of agriculture.

“To me, it comes across as not being a priority and as something they don’t want to relinquish control of,” says Dennissen.

The demand for Crown land from agriculture may indirectly compete with forestry, mining, and hunting and fishing, but the ideal agricultural lots often have little overlap with other industries. Groenheide has noted that forestry and mining are mentioned under MNRF’s mandate, but not agriculture. This may be reflected as a limited understanding of farm practices and economics.

“Most of the time, land used for crops or grazing is rented through a permit or lease, usually for 10 or 20 years,” says a MNRF spokesperson.

“Sale of Crown land is only considered in special cases, like when a farmer needs to build major infrastructure such as barns or processing facilities.”

This does not account for the significant financial investment required for the clearing and tiling of farmland.

“Farmers are looking to buy land,” says Groenheide.

“The input cost of clearing and tiling is high. If they have to borrow the money, a lot of institutions will not lend on leased property.”

Seed adds, “Only being able to access a shorter-term lease can give producers anxiety around developing land for agricultural use.”

Some of the Northern farm community is hoping to see changes to the system.

NOFIA is currently in the process of reviewing research and relevant information to gain a better understanding of the impacts of accessing Crown land for agricultural use.

“Every industry that wants access to Crown land has different interests and perspectives, so we are looking at what that looks like for agriculture,” says Seed.

“We want to try to get that information compiled and look at what’s missing in terms of carbon sequestration, soil health, and environmental impact. This information can help give us a better understanding of what the impacts of using Crown land for agriculture are and what potential gaps in the research exist.”

This would also allow for the creation of working groups that could potentially collaborate with the relevant ministries to reform the application process.

“We want to come up with what we think the process should be, with consideration of First Nations, mining, forestry, and determine fair market value for leases, lease lengths, and or purchase prices,” says Desrochers.

“We would like to come up with something to present to OMAFA and MNRF so they can see we are serious and have a plan. If they don’t like it, we can work on that, but right now no one has a plan, and the government doesn’t really have time to sit down and work this out.”

Desrochers says this would at least be a starting point for fixing the system.

“It’s important to come up with a plan because everyone applying on their own right now is not working.” BF