6 Reasons why we Need to Protect Ontario's Farmland
Ontario’s population is projected to grow by 35.8%, or 5.3 million people, by 2046.[1] The majority of this growth is expected to occur in existing urban areas such as the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area, Ottawa, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Guelph. At the same time, the cost of housing has continually risen, especially in urban areas.[2][3]
How do we house the growing population in urban areas while maintaining affordability? The prevailing trend has been to expand our cities into the countryside and pave over farmland. Based on census data, we are losing approximately 175 acres of farmland every day to urban development.[4]
We can no longer afford to look at farmland as empty land waiting to be turned into housing.
Here are 6 reasons why we must protect farmland in Ontario.
1. We need to grow food somewhere
Ontario is home to many different landscapes with an ideal growing climate, abundant fresh water from the Great Lakes, and over half of Canada’s highest quality farmland.[5] Given these ideal growing conditions, farmers in Ontario are able to grow over 200 different commodities. Ontario is a very large province with a landmass of over 247 million acres.[6] Meanwhile, only 12.3 million acres, or less than 5%of Ontario is farmed of farmland existed in 2016, meaning that less than 5% of Ontario’s landscape can support the growth of food for human consumption.
How large is 175 acres, and how much food can it produce? Check out these facts from the HomeGrown Campaign for more information.
2. Farms are an integral part of the provincial economy
The agri-food sector in Ontario employs over 720,000 Ontarians (more than 10% of the total workforce) and is anchored by the ability to grow and raise so many crops and livestock in the province.[7] The agri-food sector includes farming, food processing (i.e., bakeries, fruit and vegetable processing, animal feed production), food distribution and warehousing and food services. Every year, the agri-food sector contributes more than $46 billion to the provincial economy.
3. Farmland is a non-renewable resource
Once prime agricultural land is gone, it can’t be recreated. There are other parts of Ontario that can support farming – but the trade-off isn’t equal. While vertical and indoor growing technologies have advanced significantly in the past few years, it is not feasible to replicate the scale and variety of foods that are grown on traditional soil-based farms.
4. Ontario’s farms contribute many environmental benefits
Farmland provides many important ecological goods and services aside from food production. For example, soils are a significant carbon sink - the soils located in Ontario’s Greenbelt alone store an estimated 40 million tonnes of carbon.[8] Farms also incorporate different landscapes that are crucial for wildlife habitat. There are over 1.5 million acres of woodlands and wetlands,[9] and approximately 500,000 acres of natural grasslands, [10] on Ontario farms. Farmland produces a number of other ecological goods and services such as pollination services, soil erosion control, water cycling (groundwater recharge, flood attenuation), and aesthetic and recreational space.
5. Farms contribute so much to the high quality of life throughout Ontario
Part of what makes the quality of life in Ontario so great is access to an incredible variety and quantity of fresh local food. Many restaurants, grocery stores and farmers markets are stocked full of Ontario produce. The stats back this up –approximately 65% of the food that is produced in Ontario stays in the province.[11] The ability for people to visit surrounding farms through agritourism offerings gives people who haven’t spent much time on farms an appreciation for where their food comes from.
6. Climate change and an uncertain future
Global food security is one of the many issues that experts anticipate will be impacted by climate change and population growth.[12],[13] The World Resources Institute anticipates that the world will collectively need to produce 56% more food which would require an additional 593 million hectares (i.e., two times the size of India). It is also anticipated that climate change will impact global crop yields while the cost of food will continue to rise.[14],[15]
For these reasons and more, we need to be more creative with how we design our urban areas to ensure that we protect our local farmland for generations to come. Yes, there is a need for more affordable housing in Ontario to support a growing population. However, housing should not be built at the expense of farmland. Rather than expanding out into the countryside, we need to focus development in existing urban areas to create compact, livable, walkable, and sustainable communities.
What can you do about it?
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture recently launched HomeGrown – a campaign to prevent Ontario’s food and farms from disappearing forever. Check out their webpage, and sign the petition, here:
For more information about protecting farmland in Ontario, check out these websites:
[1] Ontario Ministry of Finance. (2021). Ontario population projections. https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontario-population-projections#foot-1
[2] BC Non-Profit Housing Association. (2021). Rental Housing Index.
[3] Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. (2018). Price Quartiles and Averages: Absorbed Homeowner and Condo Units. https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/professionals/housing-markets-data-and-research/housing-data/data-tables/housing-market-data/price-quartiles-averages-absorbed-homeowner-condo-units.
[4] Ontario Federation of Agriculture. (2021). Homegrown Campaign. https://homegrown.ofa.on.ca/.
[5] Government of Ontario. (n.d.). About Ontario. https://www.ontario.ca/page/about-ontario#section-1.
[6] Government of Ontario. (n.d.). About Ontario. https://www.ontario.ca/page/about-ontario#section-3.
[7] Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (2021). Economic indicators. Omafra.gov.on.ca. http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/stats/economy/index.html.
[8] Greenbelt Foundation (2008). Ontario’s wealth, Canada’s future: Appreciating the value of the Greenbelt’s eco-services. The David Suzuki Foundation. https://davidsuzuki.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ontario-wealth-canada-future-value-greenbelt-eco-services.pdf.
[9] Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (2021). Statistical summary of Ontario agriculture. Omafra.Gov.on.Ca. http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/stats/agriculture_summary.htm.
[10] Statistics Canada. (2016). Area of natural land for pasture by census division (CD), 2016
Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/95-634-x/2017001/article/54903/catm-ctra-227-eng.htm.
[11] Government of Ontario. (2020). Ontario’s local food report, 2020 edition. https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontarios-local-food-report-2020-edition.
[12] United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. (2013). Trade and environment review 2013: Wake up before it is too late – make agriculture truly sustainable now for food security in a changing climate. https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ditcted2012d3_en.pdf.
[13] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (February, 2017). The future of food and agriculture: Trends and challenges. http://www.fao.org/resources/infographics/infographics-details/en/c/471471/.
[14] Government of Ontario. (2016). Why we need to address climate change. https://www.ontario.ca/page/why-we-need-address-climate-change.
[15] Charlebois et al. (2020). Canada’s food price report 2020. https://www.dal.ca/sites/agri-food/research/canada-s-food-price-report.html.