Agricultural presence in Mississauga at hub of 401 and 407
By
Mark Schadenberg
Google
can be fun as you find fables – both false and often true.
There’s lots of fake news, but no matter what your area of interest is, there’s lots of interesting facts and topics of debate.
There’s lots of fake news, but no matter what your area of interest is, there’s lots of interesting facts and topics of debate.
As
a Realtor, I watch as the congestion of Toronto gradually flows outward toward
Oxford County in the southwest, and also to communities such as Orangeville and
Shelburne in the near north of the GTA. It resembles a lava flow.
It’s
a serious topic of discussion though as the provincial government solidifies
its legislation about municipal growth and determines intensification is the
way to go --- build up and not out – or create more high density residential
dwellings, which are in the simplest terms defined as being more than 4 storeys
tall.
With
this in mind, use any search engine and request information on farms remaining
in Toronto or its direct and closest umbrella areas on a map.
Read
a few of the links below, but usually it’s the Reesor family farm that is in
the spotlight. In February of this year, the Toronto Star wrote a feature on
Dale Reesor and his family as they claim to be the last farm growing a crop in
Toronto. The family resides in the northeast corner (Scarborough) of the city
and the Reesor family generations have resided there for more than 130 years.
In recent years, sweet corn and soy beans have been harvested on their 300
acres, which they call Sweet Ridge Farms.
The
family does not own the land as it was sold to the Toronto And Region
Conservation Authority. To make the cash cropping feasible they also rent
acreage nearby in Pickering.
Why
have Dale and Lois and their 5 children continued to be farmers as the
mega-city grows around them?
This
Reesor family is the 8th generation to operate a farm inside the
city limits of Toronto.
MISSISSAUGA
In
Mississauga, it’s the Hustler family which perhaps operates the last remaining
farm in that community. On Jan 7, 2016, Frank Hustler passed away at the age of
75. According to a story linked below from the Mississauga News, the province
of Ontario has been a suitor for those 52 acres since the late 1970’s as it’s
located at the junction of the 401 and 407. The Queen’s Park folks are so
determined to be the owners someday that they have placed a freeze on the land
and in essence have declared that the province will have ‘first rights’ to be
the buyer, so the Hustler family can not simply sell to a developer who may
want the property for residential or commercial uses. You might think that 52
acres is a small farm, well it certainly is, but the farm did diminish in size
a few years ago when land was expropriated in
the 1950’s for the 401 and again later for Highway 407.
Many generations have
raised hens for eggs, carried on a large beef farm and grew crops, as the
Hustler family has owned the land since 1838.
One story posted
below notes that Mississauga may still have 5 family farms as there was an
issue at their city hall about farms receiving bills for storm water sewers
which don’t exist on their roads and each farm uses wells for water, along with
septic systems.
Mississauga truly
borders on Toronto as its boundaries adjoin Etobicoke and that community is
deemed to be inside Toronto. Also, the Toronto airport, along with
Streetsville, Dixie, Erin Mills and Port Credit are all part of Mississauga.
I tried to see if I
could draw the Hustler farm on a map as it’s described as being at the junction
of the 407 and 401.
LINKS:
Reesor
Family 2008
Hustler
Family 2016
Hustler
Family 2014
Mark Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist
(SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
Independently Owned & Operated, Brokerage
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