There are fewer and fewer young people actively farming in Canada. Farmers under the age of 35 are leaving farming at twice the rate of the general farm population. As a result, Canada faces a crisis of generational renewal on its farms. This article explores the factors that mitigate against young people taking up farming. Using an analytical framework in part derived from the work of Henry Bernstein and applied to Statistics Canada data, the article demonstrates that there is an ongoing income crisis, a growing problem of farmland accessibility and costs associated with farm machinery, unrestrained increases in the power and profit-share of agribusiness transnationals, and a retreat of governments from public-interest regulation. In doing so, the article provides an evidence-based analysis of the structural factors and forces driving Canada's crisis of generational renewal on its farms.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Qualman, D., Akram-Lodhi, A. H., Desmarais, A. A., Srinivasan, S., (2025), "Forever young? The crisis of generational renewal on Canada's farms", HSSCommons: (DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v5i3.284)

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1. Agriculture in Canada
2. farm policy
3. young farmers

Original publication: Qualman, Darrin; Akram-Lodhi, A. Haroon; Desmarais, Annette Aurélie; Srinivasan, Sharada. "Forever young? The crisis of generational renewal on Canada's farms." Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, vol. 5, no. 3, 2018, pp. 100-127. DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v5i3.284. This material has been re-published in an unmodified form on the Canadian HSS Commons with the permission of Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation. Copyright © the author(s). Work published in CFS/RCÉA prior to and including Vol. 8, No. 3 (2021) is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY license. Work published in Vol. 8, No. 4 (2021) and after is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA license. For details, see creativecommons.org/licenses/.