In this, the United Nations “International Year of Soils” we read reports indicating large blocks of Ontario farmland are being lost to urbanization. Is it fact or fiction? It really depends on what you call farmland. When comparing the 2011 census to the 2006 census the reduced acreage reported is in fact 350 acres per day. Should we be alarmed? Jim Wheeler of the Wheeler Group Inc. revealed some interesting facts when the data was carefully scrutinized. The decrease in total census farmland was 641,980 acres or 350 acres per day. However, not all census farmland is productive agricultural land. The reduction of reported cropland was 122,379 acres or 67 acres per day. Most of the other land included as farmland was also classed as tree farms, woodlands, wetlands, and natural land for pasture.
We need look no further than the beef cow industry for an explanation for the reduction in thousands of acres of beef cattle pasture land. The BSE Crisis that hit the Ontario cattle industry has resulted in the loss of over 50,000 beef cows. The majority of land taken out of farm production during the post BSE crisis was in the traditional cattle country districts such as Haliburton, Nipissing, and Bruce. Most of this land is suitable only for beef cow production. The economic losses suffered by cow-calf producers forces them to cease production and thus stop reporting their marginal land as farmland.
Farming practices are changing rapidly with larger machinery covering more acres more quickly. Some parcels of land that are not workable with the new larger equipment are no longer farmed. GPS technology is now widely used and is very accurate at measuring acreages. Previously acreages were based on traditional numbers or estimates. Accurate measurements which most farmers now have readily available will probably result in less acreage being reported.
The numbers may be exaggerated, but there is still a real issue of needless loss of viable productive farmland, that is farmland being permanently converted to urban development. Society needs to realise that farmland is a finite resource and needs to be protected for future generations.
In the next few years we are expecting another four million people to make their home in this province. We live in a fantastic place we call Ontario. It is understandable that people from around the world want to make it their home as well. But we need to be very thoughtful and develop our plans very carefully. Yes we need space for new citizens to live and to work. But we also need good farmland for the generations ahead. We need to preserve our farmlands in perpetuity.
Make it government policy to develop only marginal or non-farmland. There is more than enough of this type of land to meet all of our future needs. Leave the productive farmland for farming. Enforce housing density requirements for all urban expansion. The city of Toronto should be commended for its intensification. Smaller urban centres across Ontario need to follow Toronto’s example and build “up” instead of sprawling outward onto farmland.
We need society to signal to their governments that it is imperative to preserve farmland not just for our generation but for the many generations to come. We need legislation with teeth and a long term vision.
Source: CFFO