Creating Certainty

Halton agriculture strategy

NRU
Oct. 12, 2016
By Leah Wong

Concerned about the future of its rural lands, Halton Region is striving to address growth pressures and provide certainty for the agricultural community by adopting a rural agricultural strategy.

Last week Halton planning and public works committee supported the strategy, which is intended to help create more certainty for farmers to invest in ways that maximize the productivity of their land. To that end the strategy focuses on creating a permanent agricultural system, promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in the industry and developing rural-based policies to support the industry.

“Farmers plan for generations, not for years,” Planscape partner and senior planner Margaret Walton told committee. “If farmers don’t see long-term certainty in the area they are farming in, they will leave.”

Walton, who was retained by the region to develop the strategy, said Halton’s agricultural industry is under a lot of stress due to the declining amount of farmland and the rising cost of land. According to Statistics Canada, in 2011 Halton was the only region in the Greater Golden Horseshoe to experience a decline in gross farm receipts.

One of the biggest challenges in Halton is that the farmland is not owned by farmers. The majority of land is being rented out, explained Walton. And because of the uncertainty around built boundaries, farmers can’t get the long-term rental agreements they need to make the investments necessary to cultivate the land in the most productive way.

While the Greenbelt Plan has created certainty around some agricultural land in the region, Walton noted that much of the best farmland in Halton is located south of the Greenbelt. If this land becomes available for development, it will only be a matter of time before its use changes.

“We know, in Halton, that the best agricultural land in the province is sitting in the whitebelt unprotected,” Halton Hills Ward 3 and 4 regional councillor Jane Fogal told committee. “Why? Because it is easy to build on.”

Fogal said the region needs to build certainty for farmers into its land use planning policies. While creating a permanent agricultural system in Halton is important, she said a system can’t exist without land. “If we don’t protect the land there is no certainty, whatsoever, and there will be no investment,” said Fogal. “If it is important enough for us to go through all of this [for an agricultural strategy], than it must be important for us to protect the land.”

The strategy outlines actions to help the region strengthen its agricultural sector. Walton has recommended that the region first amend its official plan to clearly define the agricultural system and specify its land area as a way to create certainty for
farmers.

While in the past most Halton residents have had a connection to the agriculture industry and understood the business of farming, Walton said there is now a disconnect between urban and rural residents. She added that there is conflict on the edge of urban-rural boundaries, causing farmers to move further away to avoid having to deal with these issues.

“[Halton] needs to create as much certainty and permanence as possible because that is what will keep the sector strong,” said Walton. “We in Ontario have a way of planning incrementally so our boundaries are never firm ... I think we need to shift [away from that].”

Walton said that Waterloo Region has worked to create a firm agricultural boundary through its most recent official plan review. She noted that the Waterloo achieved this by following the model used for natural heritage systems. By creating firm boundaries residents will know what their communities will look like in the future.