Ever since we received our first donation of farmland in 2024, we’ve been envisioning what kinds of activities and initiatives would take place on the property that were rooted in our vision: a future where Ontario’s farmland is highly valued, where diverse farming communities prosper, and where the permanent protection of farmland supports a strong and sustainable food production system that is recognized as an integral part of a thriving economy. From those discussions, the Farmland Access Program (FAP) was ideated and brought to life. This season, we are thrilled to watch all of our planning efforts blossom on the field for new, young, and aspiring farmers.
The compound implications of soaring land prices, short-term lease agreements, widening succession gaps, and competition from non-farm development create significant barriers for our next generation of farmers. The FAP bridges this gap by permanently protecting farmland and creating secure, affordable pathways for farmers to access land and build viable farm businesses to support a strong and sustainable food production system.
Leading the program is Joshua Noiseux, who joined the OFT team earlier this month.
Here are a few words from Joshua:
Hello OFT Community!
My name is Joshua Noiseux, and I’m excited to be joining the Ontario Farmland Trust as the Farmland Access Program Manager.
My path to this work has moved through philosophy, ecology, conservation, and agriculture, but has always sprung from one central question: how do we build sustainable long-term relationships between people and the land?
I completed a Master’s degree in Theory, Culture, and Politics at Trent University and taught philosophy of ecology during doctoral work at Queen’s University. My academic work explored the cultural frameworks that inform the way people think about things like “nature”, “the environment”, and “ecology”. The idea here was that the default ways we think about the land strongly influence how we interact with it – and being aware of these assumptions is an important first step in building a culture of sustainability.
In 2020, my wife Janita and I turned our attention to our immediate neighbourhood and started a farm business in the hills of Northumberland County. Our farm is intended to be a living model of the merger of ecological restoration and agriculture. To do this, we focus on grassland management through rotational grazing of sheep, silvopasture (integrating trees into pastures), and tallgrass prairie restoration. As a first-generation farmer, I have experienced firsthand both the challenges of accessing farmland and the importance of creative, community-based approaches to land tenure and farm viability.
Off the farm, I have spent the last several years helping to build the bridge between production and conservation, managing the implementation of ecosystem restoration initiatives on farmland. Through that work, I have had the amazing opportunity to work closely with other farmers on projects ranging from wetland restoration and native tall grass prairie establishment to riparian buffers and agroforestry systems.
I truly believe that agriculture and conservation can strengthen one another rather than exist in opposition. Farms are not only places of production, but places where communities, ecosystems, livelihoods, and future generations are shaped. While people clearly need land, the land also needs people: to steward it and manage with a view to long term sustainability.
To that end, I’m thrilled to be joining OFT to contribute to expanding farmland access opportunities across Ontario, helping up and coming farmers establish and deepen their relationships with the land.
Outside of work, I spend most of my time with my family, moving sheep around, chopping down invasive shrubs, and enjoying bonfires with friends.