Canadian farms must keep growing to survive — and farmers and the environment are paying for it

Farmers are facing a cost squeeze as seeds, fertilizers, machinery and land become more expensive. In Canada, the value of machinery per farm rose from $213 in 1901 (roughly $8,000 in today’s dollars) to more than $278,000 in 2016 — a 35-fold increase even after inflation. To stay competitive and to cover rising costs, farmers are being forced to produce more and reinvest in land and technologies simply to stay afloat. In my recently published research, I argue that many farms have to keep…