Farms Forever: When?

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Published on Thursday, 04 September 2014 01:29

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The Ontario Legislature gets back to business early next month and one of the questions facing the Liberal government will be: What's happening with the promised Farms Forever program? During the spring election, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced a special program aimed at protecting more of Ontario's prime farmland, especially near urban centres.

Farms Forever is modelled after a hugely successful program in Pennsylvania which has the largest farmland preservation system in the United States. Since 1988 it has protected nearly 500,000 acres of prime farmland for its $68-billion agri-food sector through a special easement program. Last month, Pennsylvania announced it had preserved another 2300-acres which happens to be the same amount of land the proposed Highland Mega Quarry would have destroyed in Dufferin County.

Food & Water First met with provincial representatives over the summer and is encouraged by the government's interest and engagement in this topic. We will be pressing the government to move quickly on Farms Forever and other protections for our vital food-producing lands.

Food & Water First News Team

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