Farm Escapes Urban Sprawl

Aaron Richardson was surprised and honored when his pastor asked him to bring a special guest to Sunday’s service: his tractor. The pastor planned to recognize the importance of agriculture to the rural community of Dunnville, Ontario, and believed that having Aaron’s tractor parked outside the South Cayuga Community Church would send a clear message to the congregation.

After all, what spells agriculture more than a tractor? Aaron, co-owner of nearby Richview Acres with his brother Jason, was glad to oblige. The Richardson family is an institution in the area and has a strong community connection.

“I’m proud of our farm and glad to talk about it,” says Aaron. “I thought parking our tractor outside the church to symbolize agriculture was a great idea.”

The pastor chose the right family to represent local farming. They’ve been active in the Dunnville area (pop. 5,700) since 1850 when family patriarch Henry Rittenhouse emigrated to Canada from Germantown, Pennsylvania. He was part of a movement of non-indigenous settlers who came from the U.S. looking for farming opportunities in inland Ontario. Then in 1923, Aaron’s grandfather, Cameron Richardson, crossed Canada from High River, Alberta, to establish a farm in the Dunnville area. He married Tena Rittenhouse and the Richardson family farm legacy began.

Dunnville was an ideal place for prospective farmers to settle. It had a secure water supply and outstanding water transportation, thanks to the historic Grand River on one side and Lake Erie on the other. The Grand River empties into the lake near Dunnville and was a key river corridor when the province was being settled in the 1800s. 

Lake Erie is just three miles from Richview Acres. The Grand River is even closer, on the other side of the farm’s woodlot, just about a half-mile away. The moderating effect of the lake and the river, along with the nearby Niagara Escarpment offer Richview Acres and other area farms a unique microclimate, milder weather and a longer growing season than most parts of the province.

Soil-wise, much of the farmland in the nutrient-rich Great Lakes basin is superb, and the Grand River watershed is no exception. It’s home to some of the most productive agriculture in the province. All these factors contribute significantly to the diversified commercial and local farm market economy, one of the area’s most distinct features.

A rural enclave 
And although about 1 million people live in nearly 40 municipalities located in the watershed, the Dunnville area remains mostly rural. That’s ironic given the 10 large cities – Niagara Falls, Brantford, Guelph, Waterloo and Cambridge, among them – are located about an hour or so away. But that’s still a little too far for most people in the area to drive to work, particularly considering it is mostly served by relatively slow- moving two-lane roads and highways, and has no mass transit.

As a result, Richview Acres and the surrounding area have escaped burgeoning urban sprawl and development pressures facing many other near-urban areas of the province, particularly those around Toronto and next to the environmentally sensitive Green Belt. Dunnville’s water features draw cottagers and other weekenders – such as anglers vying for Grand River catfish, locally called mudcats – but they’re mostly gone by Monday.

Other than a massive 900-acre solar installation – one of the biggest in Ontario – about 10 miles from the farm and rising farmland prices that have affected all of Ontario, the idyllic Dunnville area stands as a reminder that agriculture was and is a vital part of the province’s GDP. Aaron says diversification has helped keep the economy moving. “We had an extension agent who specialized in diversification,” he says. “We always heard about it, and it made sense.”

Crops, beef & dairy herds
Indeed, diversification is a hallmark of Richview Acres. While many southwestern Ontario farms are either beef or dairy operations, the Richardsons are both and have been since the early days of their operation. They expanded in 2009 when they built a new dairy barn and committed the old dairy barn and yard to grow their beef herd. Like most other commercial producers in Ontario, they sell their milk through the Dairy Farmers of Ontario organization. Their beef is marketed as freezer orders and also sold as live finished cattle. 

Jason runs the 90-cow beef operation – mainly Black Angus mixed – and looks after machinery and maintenance. His son, Brant, works off the farm at a steel plant as a welder. On Brant’s days off, he helps on the farm with field work, maintenance and welding projects. 

Aaron and his twin 20-year-old daughters, Hayley and Tori, are responsible for the 90-head registered Holstein dairy herd.

Patriarch Grant Richardson continues to be involved in various aspects of the farm, including feeding livestock. Matriarch Dorothy, who grew up on a nearby dairy farm, is responsible for dairy bookkeeping and payroll, as well as morning breakfast meals for the workers from “Dorothy’s Kitchen.”

On the crop side, the Richardsons cultivate 2,100 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat, as well as alfalfa and red clover. They also do about 700 acres of custom work, planting or harvesting for neighbors. For nearly 50 years, the family has operated a Pioneer seed dealership.

About 30 years ago, Aaron also began offering custom seeding, mostly for some of the smaller farms in the area.

Richview Acres has a bevy of New Holland equipment, including eight tractors, an air seeder, two skid steers, a forage harvester, two round balers and a big square baler, which they use for both their own work and for custom work. 

To staff all this activity, the Richardsons employ two full-time employees, two part-time workers and two summer students. Eventually, Hayley and Tori plan to take over a portion of the farm. They both will graduate from college shortly and are committed to the farm’s future, which Aaron believes is solid. But it’s not without its challenges.

“Keeping up with the evolution of change is the hard part, but if you’re pessimistic you won’t get far,” he says. “Food security is our biggest opportunity, and people are learning that they need a local food supply. You can’t count on all your food to come from imports.”

Education is a hallmark of the Richardson family. Grant (1960), Jason (1990) Aaron (1991) and Hayley (2024) are, or shortly will be, graduates of the Ontario Agricultural College system. Jason’s son Brant attended Niagara College and earned a welding technician diploma in 2019. Tori also attended Niagara College and earned a registered practical nursing diploma in 2023. Education has helped them adapt to changes in agriculture and, along with community support, has helped them deal with adversity like a barn fire they experienced the day after New Year’s in 2021. A 6:30 a.m. electrical fire caused their 60-year-old beef barn to burn to the ground, despite gallant efforts by the local volunteer fire department to save it.

Many of the firefighters – friends of the family – had a lump in their throats at the scene.

“They remembered playing in that barn, swinging through it from a rope, when they were growing up,” Aaron says. “In a small community like this, a barn holds a lot of memories.” Fortunately, all the livestock, as well as the nearby farmstead where Grant and Dorothy were quarantined because of COVID were saved.

And when the smoke cleared, the community was a little bit closer just like it was seeing Aaron’s tractor at church.