Value-added wood products in Ontario
The province’s forest industry is supported mainly by the Northern Ontario boreal forest. These are the expansive and renewable resources that are drawn upon for the creation of value-added products. The geographical area covers 690,000 square kilometers which is roughly 17% of all Canadian forests as well as 2% of the world’s forests. It is estimated that the Ontario landscape is covered by roughly 85 billion trees. The forest industry in Ontario brings in about $10.8 billion in revenue per year. Sixty percent of Ontario’s forest industry is recognized as value-added wood products. In 2005, Ontario’s manufacturing of cabinets and furniture represented $2.2 billion.
Ontario tobacco belt
By 2020, the Ontario tobacco belt will become the "Ontario horticultural centre" because of its abundance of water. Other reasons for the sudden transformation of this region include proximity to urban markets (e.g., Hamilton, Kitchener, London) and a sandy soil that favours horticultural crops. European farmers will boost the average cost of farmland to $570,000 by the year 2016 due to their overspending; which would essentially give them a monopoly on the local farming business over aspiring Canadian-born farmers. An increasing number of established farmers in the area call this tax hike "unfair;" as they perceive themselves to be paying 75% less for property taxes than people who live on residential properties nearby. While beef production has declined in the Ontario tobacco belt in the past 20 years, the amount of pork and chicken products that are grown in the region have increased slightly. The transition from conventional farming to greenhouses have resulted in fewer "field" crops and a greater amount of the "hothouse" variety.