KINBURN — Farm size is creeping towards two ends of a scale – small niche farms and large-scale operations. But it’s the small farm, typically grossing under $100,000 a year, that has grown from a squeaking minority to comprising 63 per cent of the farms in Ontario. The owners vary from market gardeners to organic growers and most rely on off-farm income to raise a family. They produce exotic meats, fresh vegetables and pick-your-own berries. They meet their buyers face-to-face, because they sell locally. They provide home delivery or consumers buy directly from the farm gate or farmers’ markets. Their products are almost always advertised as being more fresh with value added that you can’t get at a big box store.

They are a 20-year-old marketing movement that is gathering steam, says Wayne Senior, a retired veterinarian, who calls himself a small-farm operator selling eggs, breeding horses and raising sheep. "The first evidence (of the niche market trend) was the re-growth of farmers markets. We saw them grow from 63 to 124 markets in Ontario from about 1990. It’s really a rediscovery of an old market."

And now they need a voice, says Senior, president of the recently launched Ontario Small Farm Producers Association, one of many rural grassroot groups springing up across the country. "The biggest problem is regulation. Governments are trying to apply the industrialized model to the small farm."

The best example was last year’s provincial food premises act that banned church dinners and burgers at farmers’ markets by demanding, among other things, that served food be prepared in licensed kitchens. Public outrage forced the province to back down and re-examine the issue. "That act was the biggest bug-a-boo," says Senior, who farms in rural Ottawa. "Now we want input on that."

The landowners associations proved that the way to change legislation is through public opinion, said Senior, but says his group won’t need to be so radical. They just have to educate each consumer that comes along. Their message is not about food safety, he said, explaining that consumers have already bought into that and are buying locally because of it. The message for consumers is that governments need to back off and re-write regulations to make room in the marketplace for the small farm, he said.

Barely out of the starting gate with more than 30 members, the group has already determined its first cause. Persuade the Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO) to change the rule that requires meat birds to go to slaughter after 18 weeks. They want farmers without quota and up to 99 meat birds to be allowed to raise a specialty chicken for up to six months of age, even if they have to pay a marketing fee to the CFO. "Consumers want this product," he said. "Consumers are denied by regulation."

Larry Robinson, of Perth, has joined the small farm organization. Why? "Years of frustration by a lot of people around poultry," he said. "We found all small farms are being squeezed out by big business and marketing boards."