How to revitalize our near-urban farmland and curb sprawl.
Stew Hilts, Ione Smith & Melissa Watkins
DAVE
THOMPSON pocketed a cool $1.75 million a couple of days after the
Ontariogovernment released details about its greenbelt and Thompson
learned that his land sat just outside its borders. Four years from
now, he’ll receive the balance – another $1.75 million earned from the
sale of his 40-hectare dairy farm in Caledon, a rural area northwest of
Toronto. Thompson’s grandfather, father and his brother once tilled
this fertile soil, but it’s hard to fault Thompson for accepting the
$86,000 per hectare ($35,000 per acre) paid by the developer.
Who wouldn’t?
The
sale of Thompson’s farm to a developer is an all too common example of
what is happening to the near-urban agricultural land that surrounds
many of Canada’s major towns and cities. The 2006 census counted
229,373 farms in Canada, down 7.1 per cent from 2001. At the same time,
it found that there were 327,060 farm operators, a 5.5-per-cent
decline. Moreover, Thompson, whose Greater Toronto Area farm features
some of the most prized soil and warmest temperatures in the country,
is part of another agricultural concern. One in seven farms is located
within Canada’s 33 census metropolitan areas, which makes them prime
areas of urban development.
Our
growing nation’s insatiable appetite for housing, and the commercial
and industrial development it spawns, has brought us to a fork in the
road. When it comes to agricultural land, and especially near-urban
farmland, we can continue down the current path of mass urban
development, which is coupled with a conventional, energy-dependent,
imported food supply system. Alternatively, we could protect our best
farmland from urban sprawl and support the farmers who want to supply
local food for the urban market. We can continue to pay for the rising
costs of fuel and shipping, and put our trust in other nations
(oftentimes with less stringent health regulations), or we could
shorten the distance between consumers and farmers, increasing the
diversity and improving the availability of local food.
There
are limitations to local food choices in Canada, of course. It takes
more energy to grow some crops during the winter in greenhouses than to
import them, but being able to purchase local food in season is
important to a secure food system.
Protecting
food supply in near-urban areas is not without challenge, however. We
have to wrap our heads around the importance of our agricultural
industry, the importance of keeping farmers in farming and the
significance of the land base on which farm viability is founded. We
need to distinguish the challenges farmers face from those that bother
big corporate agri-food industries. And we must tackle the high land
prices that developers will pay to vulnerable farmers such as Dave
Thompson.
Since
agricultural crops cannot compete with condos economically, it’s time
to consider new approaches and offer up different rules to support
farmers and farming in Canada’s near-urban regions. Many of the tools
required to protect farmland and the people who farm it already exist.
What’s needed is the political will to use what’s out there and
experiment with fresh ideas and innovative programs.
Land-use planning
Although
it is the traditional means of protecting farmland from urban and
industrial development, history proves that land-use planning in Canada
has failed the test. Each year we lose more agricultural land. If
Canadian agricultural soil in good climatic regions was a species,
undoubtedly we would be moved to label it endangered.
Long-term
commitment to boundaries around urban growth areas is needed to protect
our best farmland. These boundaries may have varying degrees of
flexibility, based on location, soil and climate, but they must be
permanent and designed to protect the best agricultural land. For
example, it is more important to save the excellent farmland near
Ontario’s Lake Erie and in BC’s Fraser Delta than around Peterborough
or Kingston in Ontario or in the Peace River Valley in BC. In the first
cases, we should allow no flexibility whatsoever, but in the second, we
can afford a little.
Growth
management programs, such as Ontario’s Places to Grow (see page 25),
which increases urban densities, controls urban boundaries and supports
transit instead of highways, are important contributions. We don’t
think of a bicycle rider as saving farmland, but in fact there is a
direct connection. Walkable, medium-to high-density neighbourhoods keep
development out of the countryside. But when Ontario’s burgeoning
population can no longer be accommodated by increasing densities within
existing urban areas, a new city may be an option to consider. What
about a major new centre in Eastern Ontario between Peterborough and
Ottawa? The rocky land is unsuitable for agriculture, and if an
environmentally sound site can be found and rail transit supplied, it
might be a worthwhile alternative.
Agricultural easements
In
critical food growing areas such as the Niagara Fruit Belt, the Holland
Marsh, the Fraser Delta and the farmland immediately adjacent to
Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, agricultural easements could be used
to protect land. An easement is a covenant placed directly on the title
to farmland that might, for example, specify that the land will not be
used for urban or industrial development. The Ontario Farmland Trust
has been encouraging the Canadian government to establish a mechanism
for creating agricultural easements and give them the same tax
treatment as ecological easements. This tool could contribute to our
ability to grow local food, as it has done in the US.
Smaller farms
In
Ontario, the standard land-use policy does not allow existing farms to
be subdivided into parcels smaller than 40 hectares. This amount of
land may be suitable for commodity-oriented farms, but it hinders
small-scale farming. Market-gardening operations should be able to rent
“agricultural condominiums” or small parcels of land. They should also
be offered long-term leases, which encourage these market gardeners to
steward the land.
Municipal support programs
Simply
zoning farmland for agriculture and then hoping that the free market
will take care of the rest has proven to be an ineffective municipal
strategy. We are faced with farmland in near-urban areas that is
outrageously priced. An agricultural advisory committee could help
minimize farm/non-farm conflict, promote right-to-farm legislation and
make the case to politicians. Municipalities can direct support to farm
markets and adopt zoning policies that allow on-farm processing and
sales. They can introduce measures that control traffic on rural roads,
support farmers using seasonal workers and enforce public health rules
for farm visitors.
The
Region of Waterloo in Southwestern Ontario, for example, is
experimenting with cluster development zoning and allowing small
on-farm enterprises (another contribution to farm viability). It is
also supporting both wholesale and retail farmers’ markets, actively
promoting local food marketing and has designed a number of supportive
programs (such as signage and wider road shoulders that enable safer
travel by farm equipment). We need programs that promote a countryside
that embraces agriculture, and is active, busy and economically viable
rather than countryside that is an urban shadow of developer-owned,
rented farmland and non-farm residences dissected by rural roads, which
are clogged with commuter traffic.
Support for local food production
Small-scale
food production systems require the same attention as given to
innovation in large-scale agriculture. Government agencies could
provide more information and access to advisors on both the production
and marketing of local food, as well as grants and low-interest loans
to support farmers changing their production methods. Since local food
can contribute to agricultural viability, which in turn can lead to
farmland preservation, we should be willing to experiment with programs
that support an increase in specialty crops including vegetables.
Programs that label food by source or by food-miles may contribute
indirectly by encouraging consumers to purchase food produced locally.
To this end, BC’s Farm Folk/City Folk Society forges relationships
between farmers and consumers, many of whom have expressed a keen
interest in knowing more about the food they eat.
The
significant expansion of interest in organic farming is another area in
need of innovation, especially in the local food market. Statistics
Canada reports that in 2006, 6.8 per cent of farms reported that they
were producing uncertified, transitional or certified organic products.
This percentage, however, jumps to 8.3 per cent for near-urban farms.
Furthermore, though we often associate organic farming with vegetable
production, in fact there are many organic beef, dairy and other
operations as well.
Organic
production often, though not always, involves small family farms,
ethical treatment of animals and humane practices regarding farm
labourers, which has lead to a debate over the relative importance of
organic versus local. Some 85 per cent of the organic produce in
Canadian grocery stores travels all the way from California, where it
is produced by enormous agribusinesses. The debate is a healthy one
though, and some unique positive responses are being seen. Toronto’s
Local Food Plus is a great model. It certifies and labels local,
sustainably produced food (anywhere in Ontario), which may or may not
be organic.
The new generation of farmers
The
new generation of farmers includes more than the progeny of existing
farm families. Young people from urban areas are interested in farming,
as are immigrants. We need to educate today’s youth and immigrants
about opportunities in agriculture so they see it as a career option.
Furthermore, direct tangible programs that support these new farmers
are required if we are to foster more financially viable agriculture
near cities and thereby protect the farmland itself. In Europe, direct
grants and low-interest loans are available to young farmers.
We
also need to provide technical support, especially for those who do not
have a farm parent to turn to for advice. Immigrants need special
assistance, including help to break the language barrier and to become
familiar with all aspects of Canadian agriculture. Such initiatives can
foster innovation as they tap into new and creative ideas from a
non-traditional farming sector.
As
a start, the Centre for Land and Water Stewardship at the University of
Guelph takes members of Toronto’s immigrant communities to visit farms.
And Ontario’s FarmStart supports the new generation of farmers with
both training and incubator farms, where people can try out farm
production on a small scale. Furthermore, FarmStart and the Ontario
Farmland Trust are developing a program known as Farm LINK to bring
those who own land together with new farmers who want access to it.
Ecological goods and services
Paying
farmers for the ecological goods and services they provide (cleaning
water, providing habitat for wildlife, etc.), a pillar of the European
Common Agricultural Policy and a key component of the US Farm Bill, is
not yet common in Canada. Such payments
recognize
the role farmers play in conservation and would be improved if they had
special provisions for farmers who switched to local food production.
We should be experimenting with innovative ways in which consumers pay
a small premium that supports participating farmers.
HISTORY
teaches us that without a strong commitment to its preservation,
farmland is sentenced to a slow, piecemeal, but inevitable, demise.
Planning must acknowledge the complexity of the agricultural industry,
acknowledge the extreme difference between land prices for farming and
land prices for development, and be paired with support programs for
the next generation of farmers and local food production. Otherwise, we
will continue to see farmers sell out as Dave Thompson was compelled to
do.
In
Holy Cows and Hog Heaven: The Food Buyer’s Guide to Farm Friendly Food,
author Joel Salatin says it best. He writes, “To all caring food
buyers, I honor you. To all farm friendly food producers, I honor you.
We must be committed, focused, and persistent if we are to see farm
friendly food triumph. It can. It’s up to us. Let’s keep on keeping on.”
Stew
Hilts teaches in the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of
Guelph. He studies farmland preservation policies. Ione Smith is a
special projects co-ordinator with Smart Growth BC. Melissa Watkins is
the executive director of the Ontario Farmland Trust.
Reposted from Alternatives 34:3 (2008)
Check out their latest issue on news stands today.
|
Saving the Land that Feeds Us Volume 34, Number 3 |
||||
|
Bill
In this issue of Alternatives, we explore how our near urban lands can |
 |
|||
Discover more from thegreenpages
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
