Protecting and Keeping Control of Our Farmland
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- Published on Tuesday, 20 September 2011 21:59
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Across Ontario farmland is being paved over, dug up and converted to other uses by both citizens of Ontario and foreign companies. The proposed mega-quarry in Melancthon Township has caught the attention of both rural and urban residents concerned about the loss of farmland and our ability to feed ourselves down the road. With the increased awareness, this is an ideal time to bring the issues of aggregate removal and foreign ownership of farmland to the campaign trail.
The Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) says that ‘prime agricultural areas shall be protected for long-term use for agriculture’. However, there are several exemptions that apply, including for the extraction of aggregate resources (aggregates coarse materials, like rocks and gravel, used in construction). Under the PPS, aggregate extraction is considered an interim use of land, and once aggregates are removed the farmland must be rehabilitated to its original use. As farmers know, farmland with gravel or limestone underneath, is generally more valuable as farmland because of the enhanced natural drainage provided by the aggregates, making it impossible to return the land to its original value as farmland.
Each year more and more farmland in Ontario is lost to aggregate extraction, especially from areas close to urban centres. These cheap, close to point of use, aggregates are used to build the roads, big box stores, houses and factories we as a society demand. In order to protect land for food production we need to change how we move from place to place and where and how we live and shop.
Posted in "Sustain Ontario", September 20, 2011
Written by: Ann Slater, National Farmers' Union Region 3 Board Member