Agriculture | Town of The Blue Mountains, ON

Recognized as Ontario’s true four-season tourism and recreation destination, The Blue Mountains was built on a strong history of agriculture and tourism. The Town serves as one of the largest apple-producing regions in Ontario, accounting for over 15% of total acres in apple crops in the province. The Town also serves home to over 11% of total agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting jobs in Grey County, with over 340 jobs, and has total gross farm receipts of over $21 million.

The following information provides insight into the 2016 Census of Agriculture for the Town of The Blue Mountains:
- The total gross farm receipts in 2015 was $21,696,889.
- A total of 119 farms are reported to be in operation with a total of 165 operators. The average age of farm operators is reported to be 59.5 years old.
- There are over 17,500 acres of land in crops.
- Nearly 33% of farms in operation have 10 to 69 acres of total farm area, 18% reported to have 70 to 129 acres of total farm area, with 11% reporting to have 240 to 339 acres of total farm area. Just over 1% of farms in operation reported to have 560 to 1,599 acres in total farm area.
- The top three number of farms by industry include fruit and tree nut tree farming (29), other animal production (22), and oilseed and grain farming (20) which account for nearly 60% of the total number of farms.
In May 2021, Council formally approved the 2021-2025 Economic Development Strategy, which serves as the Town's first Strategy and action plan that aims to facilitate business growth and success by leveraging strategic partnerships, investing in community development, enhancing the quality of life, and mitigating economic risk factors.
Reinforced throughout the document is the Town's commitment to its agriculture sector, with dedicated tactics to supporting the agriculture community, including the launch of a dedicated marketing campaign called Grown in Blue, with an anticipated launch date of 2023.

Respecting Our Agricultural Lands

As a resident, or visitor, it is important to understand how to navigate living in an agricultural community and what to expect. This includes respecting private and agricultural land by not trespassing as it poses a risk to everyone and everything that’s involved – from the public and the grower to crops and livestock.

Growers are not required to post ‘no trespassing’ signage, so it’s best to use common sense and good judgement. The impact of trespassing can contaminate or disrupt production. Here’s how:
- Livestock such as cows are not accustomed to people they don’t know and can behave in a manner that endangers trespassers.
- Bacterial and viral diseases can be introduced to livestock unknowingly by trespassers, with far-reaching implications.
- Humans are a great transmitter for disease and invasive species to become introduced to agricultural lands as contaminants can often travel on the sole of your shoe or hiking boots.
- Snow provides important ground cover for winter crops that are harvested in early spring. The impact of vehicles travelling across the land (e.g., snowmobiles) can disrupt the growth of valuable crops such as winter wheat.
It’s important to know what to expect when living in an agricultural community and to understand that farms and agricultural operations can be noisy, dusty and can have odours. Just like other businesses within the community, farms have a production schedule, however theirs is largely dependent on weather conditions.
This means that during planting and harvesting seasons, you may notice extra lights on in a field at late at night, or you may hear equipment working on the farm such as frost fans that are used to push the warm air down to protect crops and apples. These are normal farming practices and activities that are allowed to happen on a farm as part of their day-to-day business.
As a resident, it is important to understand that although these activities can create disturbances at times, it is a part of the fabric that brings us the food that we love and enjoy so much and is integral to our local economy in The Blue Mountains.
Assuring consumers have high-quality and safe food is a top-priority, and the use of pesticides and crop protection products helps meet these demands. Producers, farmers, and growers will use these products to help protect their crops from diseases and weed infestations, insect damage and more that affect both the quality and yield.

The types of pesticides that can be used are regulated and legislated by Health Canada and the provincial government, with different pesticide use dependent on various factors including the crop’s stage, type or the severity of an infestation.
All producers, farmers and growers consider a variety of factors including wind direction and speed as well as nearby residential areas to avoid product from accidentally drifting onto areas, plants, and wildlife outside of their designated crop areas.
With normal agricultural practices being largely dependent on weather conditions, noise from farms can be common during late hours into the night, or early hours into the morning through planting and harvesting season.
Sounds can most commonly be heard from various sound producing devices meant to assist with the health, maintenance, protection, and production of crops. Loud noises can be commonly produced through devices such as bird bangers, or cannons, irrigation pumps, frost fans, dryers, large vehicles, and other stationary farm equipment. All of which plays an important role within the success of the agricultural industry throughout Ontario.
If you live in a rural area or near any farms or agricultural operations, it’s important to have open conversations with your farming neighbours and gain an increased understanding into normal farming practices and create a healthy dialogue into when you may anticipate loud noises.

Since our agricultural community relies on weather conditions to maintain operations, having this insight may help resolve concerns or issues beforehand during the planting and harvest season in The Blue Mountains.

Sharing the Road with Farm Equipment & Vehicles

To help everyone arrive home safely, please slow down when approaching farm equipment, do not expect the vehicle to pull over on the shoulder (this can be dangerous), make sure the driver can see you before you pass, and share the road! Visit the Ontario Federation of Agriculture for more information.

Additional Resources

Community Profile Business Growth & Support Business Resources & Associations Wildlife & Invasive Species Resident Information