Dale Reesor figures he’s the last farmer in Toronto.
Since his elderly neighbour Jim Murison passed away in December, Reesor’s family is the only one he knows of that’s still growing crops commercially in the city.
From their 136-year-old farmhouse on the south side of Steeles Ave. E. in north Scarborough, Dale and Lois Reesor and their five kids work about 350 acres of land within the Toronto city limits under the name Sweet Ridge Farms. They grow mostly sweet corn, about 10 to 12 varieties, plus soybeans and wheat.
It’s a way of life that stretches back more than 200 years.
The Reesors “came to the Toronto area, Markham and Scarborough, in 1804,” Dale said. “It’s a Mennonite family. They came from Pennsylvania. They travelled up and bought land in this area. It’s been the same family ever since.”
When Dale was young, his father had dairy and beef herds, but in the 1970s he switched to growing crops exclusively.
Farming within Toronto’s borders has been in decline since the Second World War, when urban development and suburban sprawl began in earnest. Now, the last significant chunk of undeveloped land is in northern Scarborough, where the Reesors live.
The reason for the decline is simple: “It’s too hard to operate in that geographic location,” said Keith Currie, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
“As development occurs, you start to deal with traffic congestion, nuisance issues with people trespassing or people complaining about noise and smell and dust and things like that,” he said. “You’re also dealing with the loss of services that farmers need to carry on their activities.”
While it’s possible there are other farmers working greenhouses or small plots of land in Toronto, it’s unlikely there’s anyone on the Reesor’s scale left here, Currie said.
Like just about everyone else in the area, the Reesor family no longer owns their land — most of rural northern Scarborough has been expropriated or sold to the city over the last 30 years.
Now, they rent it from the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority on a year-to-year basis.
“It feels like ours. I’ve lived here my whole life,” Dale said. “If we had long-term leases, like say 20 or 30 years, we could plan better for the future.”
That said, Sweet Ridge Farm shows no sign of disappearing.
Dale and Lois’s three oldest children, Angelina, Thomas, and Clayton, work on the farm during the summer and have an interest in continuing the business.
The family also rents farmland in Pickering and Markham, and sells the combined harvest from trucks at six locations in Scarborough.
Right now, given the season, things are quiet, and Dale is spending his time catching up on paperwork and chopping firewood to heat the house.
“We don’t have any close neighbours, so the wood smoke doesn’t bother anybody,” he said.
“I guess your typical Toronto resident isn’t out chopping firewood in the winter time.”
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