Some parts of the country have seen more success protecting farmland than other regions, but when you add it up, Canada continues to lose an astonishing amount of farmland to urban expansion.
The oft-cited statistic from the most recent Census of Agriculture is that Ontario alone loses an average of 319 acres of farmland every day to non-agricultural uses. Across the country, land on the fringes of growing hamlets, towns and cities is under pressure to be developed.
With a growing population that understandably wants affordable homes AND food security, how can policymakers strike the right balance between housing and farming?
This latest episode of The Ag Policy Connection explores where Canada’s at with the loss of farmland, the effectiveness and trade-offs of different policy approaches, including major examples like B.C.’s Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) and Ontario’s Greenbelt, and concrete steps that could be taken to improve policies for balancing these competing interests in the future.
Our three panelists, bringing extensive experience and insight on this topic, are:
– Dr. Wayne Caldwell, professor emeritus at the University of Guelph where he specialized in rural planning and development, has also served on the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs Greenbelt Council;
– Martin Straathof, executive director of the Ontario Farmland Trust, a provincial-wide land trust that celebrated its 20th anniversary last year protecting Ontario farmland through conservation easements and by raising awareness of farmland loss;
– Dr. Lenore Newman, Director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, where she holds a research chair in food and agriculture innovation and is a past Canada Research Chair in Food Security and the Environment.
Why we should see skyscrapers as good for agriculture, the importance of cutting regulatory red tape for farmers, and the need for clearly defined urban boundaries — it’s all in this discussion, along with much more!
This is our fourth episode of season 3 of the Ag Policy Connection, where we’re focusing on the future of farmland in Canada, as part of the Canadian Agri-Food Institute’s PLAN (Policies for Land use, Agriculture, and Nature) initiative. You can find past episodes here, on YouTube, or in any podcast player!
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