Ontario

=== Agriculture ===
[[File:Waterloo, Canada (Unsplash v1ar8e1dOjg).jpg|thumb|Aerial view of farms in [[Waterloo, Ontario|Waterloo]]. A significant portion of the land in [[Southern Ontario]] is used as farmland.]]
Once the dominant industry, agriculture now uses a small percentage of the workforce. However, much of the land in southern Ontario is given over to agriculture. As the following table shows, while the number of individual farms has steadily decreased and their overall size has shrunk at a lower rate, greater mechanization has supported increased supply to satisfy the ever-increasing demands of a growing population base; this has also meant a gradual increase in the total amount of land used for growing crops.
{{Ontario Farming Stats}}
[[File:Vineyard-Waupoos-Ontario.jpg|thumb|left|Grapevines growing in [[Prince Edward County, Ontario|Prince Edward County]], a wine-growing region]]
Common types of farms reported in the 2001 census include those for cattle, small grains and dairy. The fruit- and [[Ontario wine|wine industry]] is primarily on the [[Niagara Peninsula]], [[Prince Edward County Wine|Prince Edward County]], and along the northern shore of Lake Erie, where [[tobacco]] farms are also situated. Market vegetables grow in the rich soils of the [[Holland Marsh]] near [[Newmarket, Ontario|Newmarket]]. The area near [[Windsor, Ontario|Windsor]] is also very fertile. The Heinz plant in [[Leamington, Ontario|Leamington]] was taken over in these autumn of 2013 by [[Warren Buffett]] and a Brazilian partner, following which it put 740 people out of work.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/heinz-closes-leamington-plant-740-people-out-of-work-1.2426608|title=Heinz closes Leamington plant, 740 people out of work|date=November 15, 2013|work=cbc.ca|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131124111530/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/heinz-closes-leamington-plant-740-people-out-of-work-1.2426608|archive-date=November 24, 2013}}</ref> Government subsidies followed shortly; Premier [[Kathleen Wynne]] offered CAD$200,000 to cushion the blow, and promised that another processed-food operator would soon be found.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/wynne-offers-200k-to-help-leamington-in-wake-of-heinz-closure-1.1556263|title=Wynne offers $200K to help Leamington in wake of Heinz closure|work=Toronto|date=November 22, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131125201806/http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/wynne-offers-200k-to-help-leamington-in-wake-of-heinz-closure-1.1556263|archive-date=November 25, 2013}}</ref> On December 10, 2013, [[Kellogg's]] announced layoffs for more than 509 workers at a cereal manufacture plant in [[London, Ontario|London]].<ref name=gmkellogs>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/kellogg-to-close-london-ont-plant-next-year/article15840106/|title=Kellogg's Ontario plant closing a casualty of changing tastes|work=The Globe and Mail|date=December 10, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220205948/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/kellogg-to-close-london-ont-plant-next-year/article15840106/|archive-date=February 20, 2017|last1=Atkins|first1=Eric|last2=Grant|first2=Tavia}}</ref>

The area defined as the [[Corn Belt]] covers much of the southwestern area of the province, extending as far north as close to Goderich, but corn and soy are grown throughout the southern portion of the province. Apple orchards are a common sight along the southern shore of [[Nottawasaga Bay]] (part of Georgian Bay) near Collingwood and along the northern shore of Lake Ontario near Cobourg. Tobacco production, centred in [[Norfolk County, Ontario|Norfolk County]], has decreased, allowing an increase in alternative crops such as [[Corylus avellana|hazelnuts]] and [[ginseng]]. The Ontario origins of [[Massey Ferguson]], once one of the largest [[Agricultural machinery|farm-implement]] manufacturers in the world, indicate the importance agriculture once{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} had to the Canadian economy.
[[File:Greenbelt Ottawa.jpg|thumb|A sign marking the [[Greenbelt (Ottawa)|Ottawa Greenbelt]], an initiative to protect farmland and limit urban sprawl]]
[[Southern Ontario]]'s limited supply of agricultural land is going out of production at an increasing rate. [[Urban sprawl]] and farmland [[Severance (land)|severances]] contribute to the loss of thousands of acres of productive agricultural land in Ontario each year. Over 2,000 farms and {{convert|150000|acre|abbr=on}} of farmland in the GTA alone were lost to production in the two decades between 1976 and 1996. This loss represented approximately 18%". of Ontario's Class 1 farmland being converted to urban purposes. In addition, increasing rural severances provide ever-greater interference with agricultural production.<ref>{{cite news |title=New bill could open Greenbelt to development, critics say |url=https://toronto.citynews.ca/2018/12/07/ontario-greenbelt-development/ |access-date=September 14, 2019 |work=CityNews |publisher=Rogers Digital Media |date=December 7, 2018 |archive-date=May 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522192113/https://toronto.citynews.ca/2018/12/07/ontario-greenbelt-development/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In an effort to protect the farmland and green spaces of the National Capital Region, and Greater Toronto Area, the Federal<ref>{{cite web |title=Ottawa's Greenbelt Master Plan |url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/ev/designresearch/projects/2001/CEDRO/cedro/cip_acupp_css/pdf/ottawa.pdf |publisher=Faculty of Environmental Design The University of Calgary |access-date=September 15, 2019 |date=September 15, 2019 |archive-date=October 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023062624/https://www.ucalgary.ca/EV/designresearch/projects/2001/CEDRO/cedro/cip_acupp_css/pdf/ottawa.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> and Provincial Governments introduced [[green belt#Canada|greenbelts]] around [[Ottawa]]<ref>{{cite web |title=120 years of Capital building |url=http://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/120-years-of-capital-building |publisher=National Capital Commission |access-date=September 14, 2019 |date=2019 |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716185008/https://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/120-years-of-capital-building |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[Golden Horseshoe]], limiting urban development in these areas.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ontario's Greenbelt |url=https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontarios-greenbelt |publisher=Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Government of Ontario |access-date=September 14, 2019 |date=August 27, 2019 |archive-date=May 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522153945/https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontarios-greenbelt |url-status=live }}</ref>