Farmland preservation critical in Ontario says OFA

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

As the Ontario government embarks on a review of four major land use plans this spring, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture has a message for it: farmland preservation is critical.

Ontario Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Ted McMeekin announced Feb. 27 his ministry will review the Niagara Escarpment, Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation and Greenbelt plans as well as the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

The four plans work together to manage growth, protect the natural environment and support economic development in the Golden Horseshoe region, says a government announcement of the review.

Public consultations will be a part of the review and the consultation document can be found on the ministry’s website. As well, to support the plans’ review, a six-member advisory panel, headed by former Toronto mayor David Crombie, has been appointed.

McMeekin, a former Ontario agriculture minister, says his ministry is required by legislation to review each of the plans. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Greenbelt Plan’s implementation and it was decided to do the reviews together to avoid duplications of the process, he says. “That generally has been very well received” by municipalities and stakeholders, he says.

Federation president Don McCabe says the federation is grateful the four plans are being reviewed at the same time. “There is a lot of overlap in some cases between these plans. It’s important that we make sure we are engaged here to give the best advice to the government on how to move these plans forward.”

McMeekin says the plans mainly impact the Greater Toronto-Hamilton areas but in that region “there are tracts of Class 1, 2 and 3 agricultural land that we need to examine to see if we want to protect it or not."

McMeekin says he’s very concerned about the loss of farmland across Ontario, noting, “we need to protect it.”

In a March 5 commentary, federation executive member Mark Reusser says Ontario looses an average of 350 acres of agricultural land per day in Ontario.

McCabe says most of that land loss is in the Greater Toronto Area, which is the fastest growing region in Ontario. He notes they’ve heard loud and clear from their members “on the issue of protecting farmland and that it should be used for agricultural purposes.”

He says in the Provincial Policy Statement, which has already been reviewed, “we have seen agriculture take some prominence back and that’s the issue that agricultural lands need to be protected.”

The Provincial Policy Statement is the basis for Ontario municipalities’ official plans, he explains, noting it should take priority over the four land use plans being reviewed “to ensure farmland is protected.”

Each of plans being reviewed should contain a clear statement of its intentions, McCabe says, adding unclear language should be removed.

To prevent urban encroachment on surrounding farmland, McCabe says fixed urban boundaries should be implemented along with higher density requirements within municipalities. “It’s very easy for municipalities to keep going out but in some cases we need to go up,” he notes, adding the federation “applauds the city of Toronto for its recognition of the need to go up.”

McCabe notes there are two agricultural industry representatives on the review advisory panel. That’s great, he says, because they are in a position to ensure the plans will be workable when they’re done.

Federation vice-president Keith Currie, one of two people representing agriculture on the advisory panel (Debbie Zimmerman, CEO of Ontario Grape Growers is the other), says in addition to protecting farmland “we need agriculture to be viable economically as well.”

Currie says along with the need for farmland preservation, “we want to preserve the agricultural infrastructure needed to support farming operations” such as equipment dealers, seed dealers, crop input suppliers, and veterinarians.

Farmers also need good design of transportation infrastructure and good municipal planning in general. Farms are a lot bigger than they were 10 to 15 years ago. Currie says, “because their land base is much bigger farmers are travelling more with their equipment and the equipment is a lot larger too.”

Decent transportation infrastructure is particularly important during planting when farmers are often on a deadline to get crops planted and during harvest when crops have to be harvested and transported to their home farm.

With the loss of 350 acres of farmland per day, National Farmers Union–Ontario president and Region 3 coordinator Karen Eatwell questions if government policies have been effective in land protection. “I am not sure the plans are managing urban growth effectively.”

Eatwell says NFU–Ontario hasn’t formulated its response yet but the organization intends to submit comments to the review.

Meanwhile, Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario president Lorne Small questions why four separate plans are needed. “There’s duplication of administration and whole lot of other stuff,” he notes.

The Christian Farmers Federation is also working to formulate a response for the review. Small says their main interest is to ensure agriculture can continue functioning in the Greenbelt, the Niagara Escarpment and the Oak Ridges Moraine areas. “We want to protect the future of agriculture in those areas.”

The Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe “has to do with bringing more people into this area and how we accommodate them and how, hopefully, undisruptive it’s going to be to agriculture,” he notes.

Ontario Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal says in an email provided by his press adviser, the review “provides an opportunity to discuss how land use planning can support the agriculture sector and rural communities in one of the province’s most diverse and fastest growing regions.”

Agriculture is well represented in the review, he adds. “My ministry is playing an active role, providing advice and feedback.”

Once the consultations are completed, the advisory panel will develop recommendations. The panel’s report is due in September, McMeekin says. The government will review and reflect on the report throughout this fall. “Probably early in 2016 we’ll move forward with whatever changes are recommended by the panel,” he says. BF