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OMAFRA Seeks Input on Guideline Draft

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Published on Tuesday, 10 March 2015 00:47
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The Ontario Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs has just issued a draft document, for input and discussion from the public, entitled Guidelines on Permitted Uses in Ontario’s Prime Agricultural Areas (February, 2015).  These Guidelines are being proposed to help municipalities, decision-makers, farmers, and others interpret the policies in the Provincial Policy Statement (2014)(PPS) on the uses that are permitted in Prime Agricultural Areas. 

This draft document outlines the PPS in its stated objectives of:

       1) maintaining the land base for agriculture;

      2) supporting a thriving agricultural industry and rural economy.

 

While the draft document doesn’t differ much in how permitted uses and what used to be called secondary uses have been approached in the past, it does mirror the PPS where it purports to protect and preserve prime agricultural areas in Ontario.  However, if you continue to read through Section 3 of the draft document, BEYOND PERMITTED USES, you will note that the PPS allows the removal of land in prime agricultural areas for “new or expanding settlement areas, limited nonresidential uses and the extraction of minerals, petroleum resources and mineral aggregate resources.” This section outlines the process by which land can be systematically removed from prime agricultural areas. Where is the protection of prime agricultural lands?

 

As it stands, these draft guidelines underline the fact that the PPS affords absolutely no protection for the preservation of Ontario’s best farmland. In fact the PPS allows a systematic method for the removal of land from prime agricultural use.  Why are there no ultimate protections for the preservation of Ontario’s best farmland?

 

We think there should be. Prime agricultural land should be defined and identified within an Ontario policy that disallows the removal of that land from agricultural use. As part of that, all existing urban boundaries and any urban growth plans in Ontario need to be examined in light of the objective of preserving prime farmland.  We are currently losing up to 350 acres a day of prime farmland here in Ontario and this cannot be allowed to continue.

 

Comments on the draft Guidelines on Permitted Uses in Ontario’s Prime Agricultural Areas (February, 2015) are being invited by the Ontario Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs until May 23, 2015. The draft document can be found at the following link:  www.omafra.gov.ca/english/landuse/permitteduses.pdf  

You can fill out the Questionnaire posted on AMAFRA’s website

or email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

or by letter to:

Draft Guidelines on Permitted Uses

Food Safety and Environmental Policy Branch

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

1 Stone Road West, 3rd Floor

 

Guelph, ON   N1G 4Y2