A new bill would indefinitely zone land for agricultural uses
Ontario has a Greenbelt and a Whitebelt, and if two MPPs are successful with a piece of legislation the province’s future will include a Foodbelt.
Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner (Guelph) and independent MPP Bobbi Ann Brady (Haldimand-Norfolk) tabled Bill 21, the Protect Our Food Act, on May 13.
“The purpose of the bill is to protect Ontario’s farmland,” Schreiner told Farms.com. “Ontario is losing 319 acres of farmland each day and that’s simply not sustainable in terms of addressing our food security, our food sovereignty, and supporting our $50 billion food and farming economy which employs 875,000 people in this province.”
“We want to be able to support our farmers who feed the people of Ontario,” Brady told Farms.com. “We want to save those Class 1 soils and the most productive land in this province.”
Only about 5 per cent of Canada’s land mass is made up of prime land, and only 0.5 per cent of that is Class 1, according to Neptis, an organization that conducts research, analysis and mapping related to Canadian urban regions.
To put the 319 acres of farmland into context, the Rogers Centre, where the Toronto Blue Jays play, sits on about 12.7 acres of land.
Therefore, Ontario loses about 25 Rogers Centres of farmland every day.
“That’s the equivalent of nine family farms each week,” Brady said. “319 acres can produce more than 23.5 million apples, 1.2 million bottles of Ontario VQA wine, or 37.1 million strawberries.”
Specifically, Bill 21 calls for amendments to the Planning Act regarding land zoned for agricultural uses.
The bill legislates that land originally zoned for food production can’t be rezoned without an Agricultural Impact Assessment.
These assessments study the potential impacts of non-agricultural development on ag operations and recommend ways to avoid or minimize adverse effects.
In addition, the bill would create a Foodbelt Protection Plan Advisory Committee made up of farmers, ag experts, soil scientists, professional planners and reps from food and ag organizations.
“They would work to come up with a plan on how we protect farmland in this province by creating the Foodbelt,” Shreiner said. “And protecting agricultural businesses like greenhouses, food processing, and input suppliers because they’re all important to building a successful agricultural ecosystem.”
That work would include preparing a report defining the parameters of the land for inclusion in the Foodbelt.
“We don’t have all the answers at Queen’s Park,” Schreiner said.
Three ag organizations support Bill 21.
Having the support of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, National Farmers Union, and Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario sends a strong message about the need to protect Ontario’s farmland.
“I think it’s absolutely integral that we have the support of these organizations because they represent the vast majority of farmers,” Brady said. “These organizations represent Ontario’s farm families.”
Schreiner and Brady working together on this bill shows collaboration between people of different political stripes.
And they’re working to get the support of Ontario’s ag minister Trevor Jones and others in the Ford government.
“I talked to (former ag minister) Flack before the election, and Minister Jones, to his credit, when he first heard about the bill, said he’d like to work with us on this,” Schreiner said.
“The PC caucus is made up of multiple members from rural communities, so this is definitely something that’s near to their hearts,” Brady said. “I’m hoping they can help us get this to the premier’s office because it’s important to the people of our ridings and to the farmers of Ontario.”
If the bill doesn’t pass, Ontario’s farmland remains exposed to development.
And while some alternative growing methods are available, they’re not all suitable for production.
“We risk the ability to feed ourselves and our economy overall,” Schreiner said. “I’ve had people ask me about vertical farming, and I’m all for it, it produces delicious food I see on grocery store shelves. But I grew up on a cash crop and cattle farm, and you can’t produce cash crops and cattle in a vertical warehouse.”
And the potential losses can go even further, Brady said.
“Chipping away at farmland sends shockwaves across our economy when you think about jobs in STEM and labour, and our main streets in rural Ontario” Brady said. “We saw the supply chain challenges during the pandemic and it’s terrifying to think we’d do anything to harm our domestic supply chain.”