Preserving farmland a plan that makes sense (column)

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Published on Monday, 29 July 2013 14:14

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ON POLITICS with Rob Strang — I’m very optimistic that Bonnefield Financial’s purchase of The Highland Companies farmland in Melancthon marks the end of the mega-quarry. From what I read, Bonnefield Financial genuinely invests in farmland with the intention of having it farmed in a sustainable fashion. I don’t have any greater insight than what gets reported in the newspapers and on the Bonnefield website, but I’m letting my optimism take the day.

My optimism is supported by my belief that it makes sense as an investment strategy. People will always need to eat. Local and global populations are rising and as economic prosperity spreads globally, people will eat more and different foods which require more agricultural inputs.

It seems reasonable to assume that good farmland will be more valuable 10, 50 and 100 years from now. How many businesses can claim the likelihood of that kind of longevity?

Now if only our governments would see the wisdom in protecting farmland as one of the few sustainable elements of our economy.

Sadly, this is not the case, as the plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe area is to accommodate 80 per cent of the whole province’s growth in this one small part of the province. That is an increase of 3.7 million people over 30 years.

It just seems profoundly foolish to facilitate such growth in an area with the best farmland in the province, some of the longest commute times in North America and traffic congestion that costs “upwards of $5 billion each year in lost GDP” (ref. Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe).

The growth plan has a double edged sword, in that it enables 60 per cent of that growth to occur on greenfield areas, so farmland will be consumed by both the development itself and the aggregate extraction to feed that development.

This kind of growth was used to justify the need for the mega-quarry, so with the mega-quarry dead, the demand for aggregate will be focussed on other parts of our region.

We’ve already seen a new application for a pit by Melville in Caledon. When one aggregate application closes, another opens, as long as the demand is there.

Sadly, I don’t see the government or any of the opposition parties even talking about a long-term plan for Ontario that includes spreading economic growth throughout the province or sustainable agriculture. Until we address the mindless growth plan for Ontario, we will be playing whack-a-mole with pits and quarries in Dufferin-Caledon and housing will continue to nibble away at our farmland.

By Rob Strang

Published in the Orangeville Banner, July 29, 2013

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