Protecting Ontario farmlands protects Ontario farmers

Thestar.com
Sept. 21, 2022

Summer is my favourite time of year, as I can support local farmers as a Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA) member.

Following the June announcement from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture that Ontario is losing 319 acres of farmland every day, supporting local farmers and preserving local farmlands is crucial.

For context, 319 acres of farmland being lost daily equates to losing nine family farms each week!

AGRICULTURAL LAND PROTECTION

Unlike British Columbia and Quebec, Ontario has no strong Agriculture Land Reserve protections (ALRs) for southern Ontario’s rich Class 1 soil.

Ontario has lost roughly 40 per cent of its farmland since 1941, including over 1.5 million acres between 1996 and 2016. This represents the most of any Canadian province or territory.

In the past 35 years, Ontario has lost 2.8 million acres (18 per cent) of its farmland to non-agricultural land uses like urbanization and aggregate mining. Land is a non-renewable resource, so when we pave over farmland, it’s gone forever.

It reminds me of Joni Mitchell’s song: “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

LOSING ONTARIO’S FARMLAND

As much of that lost farmland is categorized as Class 1 -- the highest classification under the Canadian Land Inventory -- Ontario is losing what represents the most productive farmland in the country. Only 0.5 per cent of Canada’s total land mass is considered Class 1 soil, with most of that in southern Ontario, Quebec, and B.C.

The pressure for land is particularly acute in southern Ontario, where Peel and Durham regions opened an additional 19,000 acres of farmland to development this spring.

York Region’s official plan proposes to change the designation of 1,400 acres of Greenbelt lands from agricultural to rural, even though our agri-food sector provides approximately 57,000 jobs contributing $2.7 billion to the economy. The proposed Highway 413 and Bradford Bypass will also result in a loss of thousands of acres of prime agricultural land.

Can we afford to lose them?

PROTECTING FARMLAND

Protecting local farmland is crucial as food supplies are affected by the climate crisis and geopolitics (per University of Northern British Columbia professor David Connell). Extreme weather events like floods and droughts are the new norm, while the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have exposed how vulnerable global supply chains are.

“There's no food security without land security,” said Connell, noting that efforts by the federal and provincial governments to deal with the crises are not prioritizing the need to protect farmland. Surprisingly, our Ontario Conservative government plus local governments are allowing almost unfettered construction expansion without consideration of how desperately we need to protect our most valuable resource -- our rich southern Ontario farmland! Where will residents of these developments get affordable, healthy food if we continue to pave over farmland?

Some also speculate that the Trudeau government’s December 2020 new climate plan, which focuses on reducing nitrogen emissions from fertilizer by 30 per cent below 2020 levels by 2030, will decimate Canadian farming even further.

BUY LOCAL -- SUPPORT FARMERS

There are many reasons to buy local and support local farmers, with the health of the environment and human health at the top of that list.

In talking to my local farmer and commenting how so many farms around him are for sale or have been sold, he said it’s challenging now to be an economically viable farmer. He understands why many generational farmers are cashing out by selling their land to developers to use the proceeds for their retirement. This doesn’t bode well for protecting our local food supply, our health and the environment.

York Farm Fresh offers a map listing York Region farms, what they sell and directions to get there. On Oct. 1, you can also participate in a Harvest Ontario Walk through the farms and conservation areas threatened by Highway 413.

As consumers, what we buy and from whom matters. Buying from local farmers helps to ensure we have a future where we can choose locally grown food.