New development taxes, Green Energy Act reform, agricultural conservation easement programs and improved provincial land use policies have been highlighted by farmers, planners and municipal leaders as priorities for sustaining agriculture and improving farmland protection in Ontario.
One hundred and fifty people attended the Ontario Farmland Trust’s Farmland Preservation Forum at the University of Guelph Feb. 17, representing most agricultural regions in southern Ontario.
The theme Balancing Agriculture and Resource Demands in Rural Ontario generated discussion and new policy ideas.
“The intent of this year’s event was to bring focus to the relationship between policy, land use and rural economic development across Ontario,” said Ontario Farmland Trust (OFT) policy coordinator and forum organizer Matt Setzkorn. “Do existing policies lead us toward balancing the multiple functions of the rural landscape, or toward land use conflict?”
Setzkorn said land use conflict is of particular concern to primary agriculture, which relies on a stable land base, established farm infrastructure and a network of supporting farm businesses.
Speakers and participants expressed concern about support for agriculture and farmland protection among intensifying competition with green energy, aggregate pits and quarries, natural heritage preservation and urban sprawl.
“The public has the false impression that land use is stable and sustainable in rural Ontario,” said Clarington planner Faye Langmaid, who spoke as part of a panel at the event. “The reality is that the rural landscape is continually evolving.”
Carl Cosack, a farmer and chairman of the North Dufferin agriculture and community task force, a group opposing a mega-quarry application near Shelburne, said, “Let us challenge ourselves to shape policy that creates cooperation rather than conflict.”
He suggested new policies that are socially sustainable and include community engagement. One example is allowing communities that host resources like aggregate and wind to bid on becoming the home for those developments rather than the province favouring outside interests.
Leadership, education and collaboration were clear themes that emerged.
Niagara Region planning commissioner Patrick Robson encouraged participants to be responsive to the needs in their communities and actively inform policy development. “Take the initiative to engage the province, explain where land use and agricultural policy is lagging and suggest improvements based on innovation in your community.”
Lincoln Mayor Bill Hodgson reminded the crowd, “While application and interpretation of policy is primarily top-down, policy development happens from the bottom-up.” Niagara Region was profiled as a case study in agricultural policy development.
During small group discussions, new policy directions were suggested, including:
– creating a new tax on any ‘change of land use’ or ‘greenfield’ development to support farmland protection and more efficient land use;
– providing greater protections for agriculture and farmland from aggregate developments within the Provincial Policy Statement;
– reforming the process for resolving land use disputes (community referendums in addition to Ontario Municipal Board hearings);
– introducing farmland conservation easement programs that support farmers and protect farmland; and
– improving the green energy development approval process to fully engage the communities impacted.
Forum participants indicated a strong desire to align with common policy and planning goals for agriculture, understanding that policy should:
– prioritize the protection of farmland as a finite and valuable resource;
– enhance farm profitability for all sizes, types and intensities of production;
– prevent land use conflicts;
– preserve the ability to be self-sufficient in food production; and
– seek to achieve long-term social, environmental and economic sustainability, acknowledging that the countryside and rural-agricultural communities provide the foundation for Ontario’s prosperity.
Farmland Trust chairman Stew Hilts said, “Today’s dialogue, bringing farmers, policy-makers and others together, is critical to enabling innovation in policy and discovering new opportunities for collaboration and engagement that are essential to building a sustainable future.”
Full forum proceedings can be viewed at www.Ontario FarmlandTrust.ca.
