Agriculture in the Great Clay Belt is on the verge of a resurgence as available rural around Temiskaming Shores is gradually filling up with new farmers.
“Any land that comes up for sale doesn’t stay (on the market) for very long,” said James Franks, the economic development officer for Temiskaming Shores. “The agricultural base is continually growing.”
Though still in its early stages, Mennonite farming families have gradually migrated north from southern Ontario and the municipality sees an opportunity to grow its slate of agricultural service companies.
The Beef Farmers of Ontario are eyeballing the Highway 11 corridor as offering space to expand the provincial cattle herd.
With land in the Temiskaming belt in short supply, Franks said they’re partnering with regional partners up Highway 11 who have more fallow land for beef farming. The municipality has joined the Northeast Community Network to provide a louder collective voice on discussions with the province to convert Crown forest into pasture for beef cattle.
“What Temiskaming hopes to become is the agricultural service centre” said Franks.
The area’s construction scene is stagnant, but the municipality is forging ahead with its own infrastructure upgrades to better connect the amalgamated municipality of 10,400, which consists of the towns of New Liskeard and Haileybury, and Dymond Township.
With a $4.3-million infrastructure project to connect Dymond Township and New Liskeard to a unified water system now complete, work now shifts to a $9.2-million project to link the sewage systems.
In addition, a new $1.6-million water looping project began in October to connect the water systems of Haileybury and North Cobalt.
“It’s creating a better, more efficient, water system for the whole community,” said Franks.
Mining service and supply sector is an important cog in driving the local economy.
Temiskaming Shores remains the lead organization on the wildly successful Northern Ontario Mining Showcase staged at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s annual spring convention in Toronto.
“It’s gone extremely well,” said Franks, with registration open for companies to display at the pavilion.
“We’re hoping to bring upwards of 80 to 85 businesses with us."
The retail sector and professional services remains an economic mainstay with a wider population catchment area of 32,500 that includes western Quebec.
Optimism reigns that a new managing company of the Timiskaming Square Mall will inject new life into the outlet. In June, RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust announced it signed a 50/50 joint venture with Plaza Retail REIT to manage the mall.
Small communities like Temiskaming Shores are not necessarily priority markets for RioCan, but with a smaller developer in charge, “the hope in the community is that we’re going to see some changes to that mall” with more of an effort to attract new tenants, Franks said.
