On the Radar

AS A DEDICATED food security advocate and founder of Sundance Harvest — a two-acre farm in Mount Forest, Ont., that grows produce for farmers’ markets in the Greater Toronto Area — Cheyenne Sundance has a lot on her plate. Despite her busy schedule, she still makes time to answer the many messages she receives from young people asking how they can get into farming. “It’s weird because I’m 27 and I don’t really know what I’m doing most of the time, but I’m getting these emails because there’s no other avenue for people who want to farm.”

With 40 percent of Canadian farm operators expected to retire by 2033, those aspiring farmers could be a vital part of our country’s agricultural future, but making a living doing farm work has its challenges — especially in Southern Ontario, where the cost of renting or buying farmland close to urban centres is especially high. That’s why, in addition to paying her workers a living wage, Sundance co-founded Sundance Commons, an agricultural non-profit that provides student farmers with free training, equipment and access to farmland at four incubator farms across the GTA. “I think there’s this stereotype that farmers work super hard, and we do, but the hard part is making it a viable commercial enterprise, which is something that is very, very difficult for a young person to do without land access,” says Sundance. “That’s why I co-founded this non-profit. I want to create a pathway for new farmers to access land and community.”